Legends
by Peachounette78
Summary: They were there since the beginning, protecting the planet in the shadow, though the humans were never aware of them... Yuri finds himself dragged into a situation beyond all he could have ever imagined. POST-GAME.
1. The Flower Woman

**ANNOUNCEMENT**

Aaand... I'm back! This time with my own story... To tell you the truth, I started writing that story months ago, but many ideas were coming to me... I finally decided to stick with that one. Hope I won't change my mind halfway...

Please don't blame me if you see grammatical mistakes... English isn't my native language. Also I didn't played the game (watched the playthrough on YouTube eh eh...), we don't have an xbox at home unfortunately...

I don't own Tales of Vesperia. But my own characters, yes.

Enjoy! Good reviews (and negative reviews also... but mean and insulting, it's a big no for me) are accepted!

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><p><strong>01. The Flower Woman<strong>

_It was night, at this time. A dark and opressing night. Fortunately the Moon was there to recomfort me, even if it was just a little bit. Its gentle rays were piercing through the thick foliage of the trees, allowing me to find my way into the forest._

_I remember very well this night. I was a simple knight at this time, and I was running. Running from a monster I've never seen before._

_Monsters generally operate with rough attacks, without any strategies. Well, just with the instinct. But the one I was dealing with was quite different. I don't know how to describe it, but... sharp attacks, fluid movements, vertiginous speed... The only thing I could do was to escape, leaving with just my sword and some clothes (I was camping and I was attacked during my sleep)._

_I stopped in a clearing. I didn't sense anymore the strange presence around me and decided to take a break. I put my hands on my kneels to help me get my breath back. What was that monster? I was wondering. I lifted my head up and..._

_He was there. Just in front of me. How did he get here? That was absolutely incomprehensible! In my unity, I was well known for my ability for have never been taken, nor attacked, by surprise. My comrades tried that over and over, but each time I was able to sense them and to dodge. And tonight was the first night I encoutered someone who was able to elude me! Besides, a monster!_

_Everything happened in a flash. I just barely understood he was the one who fooled me... now I find myself leaning against a tree, with an awful back pain. And when I opened my eyes, he was already in front of me._

_Now, I could distinguish him perfectly. And I can confirm it, it wasn't a normal monster. Human form, red skin, golden eyes, very long nose, bird claws instead of hands and feets, and dark ample clothes maintained by a rope belt. But I was struck by his imposing black-feathered wings._

_During a time that I found unbearable and never-ending, the monster was looking at me, with a haughty look. Then he raised the claws who served him as hands. Very slowly. I closed my eyes, waiting for the strike and thinking that I'm gonna end here..._

_I heard a strike, but I felt nothing. Just heard a screaming and piercing voice. I opened my eyes once again to see what happened...  
>First, I thought I was in heaven. Pink flowers were floating everywhere, like animated by a magic force. Like the Halure Tree when in full bloom...<em>

_All the flowers were converging around one person. _

_It was like a dream. That person was actually a beautiful woman. Her long black hair was dancing along with the flowers. She was wearing white, pink and red clothes, maintened by a dark red belt and decorated with a single flower. Her little feet were dressed with white socks and sandals. Her green eyes were gently looking at me..._

_A moan made me go back to reality. The bird monster was lying at my feet._

_Then I noticed something strange. On the top of the woman's head... a pair of fluffy and black dog ears. Another strange monster? I panicked. Is she here because she wanted to attack me as well? Maybe she stroke the bird monster because he was getting on her way... In the way to get me, the prey?_

_Did she sensed my worries? I don't know, but her red lips formed a gently smile. And I couldn't help myself to be eased and soothed by her warm smile._

_The bird monster managed to get up and faced the dog woman with an angry groan. She raised her right arm; flowers gathered, forming a fan in her hand._

_The dog woman and the bird monster standed face to face, analyzing each other. And me, still against my tree, was looking at that strange and enchanting scene._

_Everything happened really fast. I just remembered that the bird monster was the first to make a move. At that moment, the ropes that were keeping the woman's fan closed came undid and, with a gracious but fast move, she opened her fan and strike. A ring bell was accompanying her move._

_I didn't know what happened exactly, but the bird monster was now behind her. And she didn't moved from her place. Several seconds passed, and the bird monster finally fell on the ground._

_Simply amazing. With just a fan and one strike, she had defeated the monster who gave me a hard time just before. She smiled once again to me, before turning back to face the monster's corpse._

_What followed after must have been, without any doubts, the most beautiful scene I ever seen in my life. The enchanting woman raised once again her right arm and began to dance and sing._

_I don't remember her song, but while she was dancing, the monster corpse was slowly disintegrating into flowers. The bells attached to her fan were ringing, accompanying her song and dance._

_Now that the body had completely disappeared, she turned her head toward me, and smiled one more time..._

_"Please, forgot everything you saw" She said with a gently voice. "Don't tell anybody about tonight..."_

_I was too stunned to say anything, so I just nodded. And she disappeared in a flow a flowers._

_The flowers magically vanished. The clearing was now back to normal... as if nothing had happened._

_It took me -well, maybe hours, I don't remember!- to recover from what I saw. I kept asking to myself if it was a dream or not._

_When I finally regained my campement, I was haunted by the scent of the being who saved me... the one that I now call "The Flower Woman"._

_When I returned to my unit the next morning, of course my comrades were worried about me and didn't stop questionning me about what happened the last night. So I told them everything... and I remembered the woman's last words. "Don't tell anybody about tonight...". So I obeyed her. I considered this as a repayment for what she did for me... But as I was getting older, the need to tell about her was growing inside me... and this is how I started writing my memoirs. _

_For my daughter and her husband. For my grandson..._

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><p>Chapter 2 and 3 are finished, just have to read them once again, eventually adding a few things... it will also depend on me (I'm such a lazy person...)<em><br>_


	2. Halure's Festival

So, as promised, here is chapter 2!

741852AuthorNicolaStarlaLili: I'm glad you liked it! I hope I won't deceive you!

And once again, I don't own Tales of Vesperia and its characters.

Enjoy!

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><p><strong>02. Halure's festival <strong>

"Princess Estellise !"

In the library, a young pink-haired girl was too absorded by her book to pay attention to the call, who was coming from the corridor. Her green eyes were literally devouring the pages of the book, dancing through the lines and the writing.

Someone knocked at the door. But still, the girl was keeping reading.

And finally...

"Princess Estellise, are you okay? I'm entering!"

A knight opened the door and enter the library, making the princess finally snapping out of her book.

"Oh!" she said with a surprising tone. "What can I do for you?"

"I'm sorry, Princess. I was calling you, but you didn't answer. I thought something happened, so I took the liberty to enter."

The princess blushed and smile, embarassed.

"Oh, I... I'm sorry!"

"So," the knight continued. "I've come here to inform you that everything is set for the departure. We're ready to leave at anytime you want."

The young princess joined her hands, pleased by the news.

"Thank you! In that case, I won't make you wait any longer. I'll just pick a few more books before we leave."

"May I help you carry your books to the coach?"

"Really, you'll do that? I'll really appreciate if you can carry these, then." With her finger, she pointed several and enormous piles of books, next to her. The knight shivered.

"Err... yes, as you wish, Princess."

"Thank you!".

The knight took a first pile of book and said, before leaving the library.

"Then Princess, I shall take my leave."

After the knight managed to close the door behind him, the princess closed the book she was reading. "Memoirs of an old fool" by Albertio Duponte.

A book that once belonged to her mother, and dealing with the story of an ancient Commandant of the Imperial Knight. Very little is known about him, just the fact that he was considered a crazy old man until his death. He claimed during nearly all his life the existence of mysterious creatures half-human and... half-wolf. But no one believed him, because there were no traces of their existence anywhere.

Albertio Duponte died twenty years ago. For a short moment, the princess felt sad for him. Dying alone... that must have been very hard...

At the end of the book, there were a few sketches the author had drawn. And of course, most of them were sketches of the "Flower Woman", as he had called her. The sketches depicted a beautiful woman with black ears, a silky tail, flowing black hair and flowers surrounding her. The drawings were so accurate that the young girl wondered if that woman really exist...

"It might be not impossible" she murmured, as she added the book to her already imposant stacks of books. "After all, entelexeia exist, even if they were described as legends and myths. Anyway... I won't let that kind knight do all the work alone!"

Now walking along the corridor (she was having difficulties to walk since the pile of book she was holding was really heavy), she remained pensive, recording about the events that happened to her a few months ago.

Estellise, commonly known as Estelle, is a princess who lived during her entire life locked in the castle. Her only friend, at that time, was a young knight named Flynn Scifo. And then one day, when she discovered a conspiracy implying that Flynn was in danger, she tried to escape the castle in order to find him. While trying to do so, she met Yuri Lowell, a skillfull swordman and Flynn's childhood friend. Together, they escape the castle and set on a journey.

An incredible journey, it was. They met new friends: Rita Mordio, an "explosive" mage from Aspio; the young Karol Capel; the mysterious Raven and the beautiful Krytian Judith. She also remembered her numerous (and failed) attempts to pet Repede, Yuri's faithful dog!

And they discovered different cultures, different cities, different people...

All of this began because Yuri just wanted to find the thief who stole the Aquae Blastia from the Lower Quarter; and Estelle just wanted to warn Flynn about the danger that was threatening him. Finally, they were dragged into something that were surpassing their imagination and ended up saving the world... from the Adephagos. This dark entity was really frightening, and if they hadn't done anything, it could have swallowed the entire planet! Estelle shivered as she remembered that.

But now, the Adephagos isn't a danger anymore. Together, they destroyed the Adephagos once for all by giving away all the Blastia, an Ancient technology and support of human's developpement and life for many years.

It's been a few months since the Adephagos incident. Life was slowly returning to normal. But people had some difficulties to deal with life without Blastia.

Estelle was so deeply lost in her thoughts that she didn't hear Flynn calling for her.

"Lady Estellise, be careful!" But that was too late. As a result, she ended up bumping against him.

"Aaah!"

The books scattered everywhere on the marble floor. When the princess finally understood what happened, she found herself lying over a young blond-haired knight, whose blue eyes were looking at her with worry. She blushed.

"Oh, err... Flynn!" Estelle immediately got up. "I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"

"Urgh... Don't worry, Lady Estellise, I'm fine. You're not hurt?"

Estelle shook her head, saying "no". Then she started to pick up the books.

"Hum... I'm really sorry! I was lost in my thoughts, and then..."

"Well, I pretty much figured it out. There, let me help you."

"No, you don't have to...!"

But Flynn wasn't listening to her.

"So, you're going back to Halure, right?"

"Yes," Estelle answered. « I just came here to borrow some books. But I really wanted to bring more!"

"Oh..."

Flynn looked at the books. There's already plent of it, and she wanted more? Well, that's the Estellise he know.

"But you can come back here anytime you want, as Master Ioder said", Flynn commented. "Even if you're not anymore a candidate to the imperial throne, you are still a member of the royal family. Master Ioder said that you are always welcome here"

"Yes, I guess you're right..."

The blond knight accompagned Estelle to the castle's main entry. There, the knight from before was waiting for her.

"Princess, we are now ready to leave."

"Thank you for your hard work! And thank you too, Flynn."

"It was all my pleasure. Are you going to leave now?"

"Yes, I must be in time for Halure's festival, in two days. And you?"

"Well, what I'll do for now isn't very important for you to know..."

But when he met Estelle's sparkling eyes, he sighed.

"Hum... just fullfill my duties as a Commandant. Ah, could you please do me a favor?"

"Of course, what is it?"

"Yuri will be at the festival, right? Please tell him that he stills own me a fight."

Estelle giggled.

"Yes, I won't forget."

"Well then," Flynn finally said, bowing. "Have a good journey and please, be careful. I really wished I could accompany, but I'm afraid my new duties as Commandant are keeping me here." Then he speaked to the knight. "You there! I'm entrusting Lady Estellise to you!"

"Yes, sir."

"Don't worry, Flynn, I'll be fine!" Estelle pouted. "You know, I still can use my healing artes!"

"I know, but still, be careful. I have recent reports about strange monsters wandering and attacking travellers on the roads..."

"Strange monsters?"

« Yes. Unknown monsters, even the monster specialists claimed they had never saw such creatures before; they weren't repertoried in any books, nor previous studies."

Estelle frowned.

"Oh, I'm sorry if I did scared you!"

"No, it's all right. Everything will be okay. I haven't met such monsters on my way to Zaphias, so..."

A second knight caught up with them.

"Lady Estellise, your coach is ready!"

"Oh, hum... Thank you. I'll be right there. Well Flynn, I hope we'll meet again very soon!"

"I'm looking for it, Lady Estellise."

Estelle smiled to him and bowed politely, as she always do, before leaving the castle, flanked by the two knights. Flynn stayed in front of the castle's entry until he loose sight of the princess.

* * *

><p>A dark room with a crackling fire as the only source of light. Walls made of white paper and dark wood.<p>

Three people, sitting on the wooden floor around a crackling fire. The room was so dark, so it was impossible to distinguish their faces.

A female voice, rather sensual and mature, came out from the dark.

"You know why I asked you to come here. The humans will hold a festival in the city of Halure, where the Great Tree stands."

"Seriously? Can we go there?" asked an impertinent and joyfully male voice.

The first voice sighed heavily, with exasperation.

"You're always thinking about having fun, don't you, Kansei?"

"Well, parties are fun! Especially the human ones!"

"You're incorrigible..."

"In fact, Chie already sent Okugi to the human city," said the third voice. A surprising soft and gentle voice, contrasting with Kansei's voice. "Right, Chie?"

"Yes indeed, Shinsetsu. There will be a lot humans gathering there. So we're expecting demons to appear..."

"Eeeh?" Kansei interrupted. "You sent Okugi? Why not me? You know that Okugi is a depressive and boring princess..."

"Yes, that's why I sent _her_ rather than _you_!" Chie answered dryly. "Okugi knows how to be quiet and discreet, unlike you. The last time you were in a human city, you were drunk and almost revealed our identity!"

"Ooh, that was decades ago! You still remember that?"

"Of course I am. You know what it imply if humans discover us!"

"Huh, stop it, you're sounding like Okugi now..."

"But you know, Chie, the situation now is critical." Shinsetsu said. "The Seal is getting weaker and weaker. More and more demons can pass through the Gate. Humans are getting aware that monsters they don't usually see are attacking them. I think that very soon, we won't be able to hide ourselves anymore..."

Chie remained silent.

"Our sister Shinsetsu is right, Chie" Kansei's voice has suddenly took a serious tone.

"Well, I must admit you're right." Chie resumed. "As you said, demons are now spreading all over the world. They're going to attack at any time, even in full day, in empty places as crowded places. We won't be able to act like we did during those last thousand years."

"So, what should we do?" Kansei asked.

"I guess we have no choice but wait."

* * *

><p>Halure's streets were full of people running here and there. Everyone was busy with preparations for the festival. As Estelle arrived and went down from the coach, she suddenly felt that the city was so lively than ever.<p>

The knight who was driving the coach went down as well and bowed.

"Princess, where should I put your belongings?"

"Oh, please bring them to my house. I'll..."

"Miss Estellise!"

It was the mayor of the city.

"Welcome back, Miss Estellise! We were waiting for you!"

"Thank you! But please, call me Estelle. I think I already told you that, right?"

"Well... you're a princess, so... I'm not really used to that... Anyway, you have came right in time. A librarian from Aspio has just arrived this morning. She said she wanted to settle some details with you about the festival."

"Wow, I didn't expected her to come so quickly..."

"Also, the guild you invited is here. I think they're at the bottom of the tree right now."

"Really? Thank you for telling me that. And you, how are you doing with the festival preparations?"

"We're adding the finishing touch. It's the first time I've seen the inhabitants so happy and excited! This all thanks to you. You were the one who suggested the idea of a festival..."

"Well, I wanted people to smile and have fun. Especially in those days... after the Adephagos incident..."

"Yes. That thing was really frightening. Now... I never expected life to be so difficult without blastia..."

Estelle remained quiet and noticed a inhabitant coming in their way.

"Mister Mayor, we need you at the inn!"

"I'm coming! So, Miss Estellise, I must go back to work."

"All right. If you need something, please don't hesitate to call me."

"You're so kind, as usual! But you're busy too, so we'll try to do things on our own, as best as we can."

He bowed and left. Estelle looked at the tree, joined her hands and closed her eyes.

"I'm so glad that Karol and the others managed to come! Well, let's not make them wait any longer!"

As she walked to reach the top of the hill, she could hear "Welcome back, Miss Estellise!" or "How are you, Miss Estellise?" from the people along the streets. Even children rushed to her and asked her to play with them.

"Oh, I'm really sorry, but I've got friends waiting for me. I have to meet with them as soon as possible."

"So, when you're finished, will you come and tell us a story?"

"Yeah, a story!"

Estelle smiled.

"Yes, of course. Just wait for me tonight, under the tree, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah!"

Then Estelle noticed a young girl standing away from the other children.

"Annabelle, you'll come too, right?"

The young girl hesitated. She has brown hair tied in pigtails and blue eyes, and she's very small and skinny despite she's eight years old. Estelle came to her and kneeled.

"I'll be very pleased if you come, actually."

Finally, the young child gave her the hint of a smile. Estelle smiled too.

Annabelle is a young girl who came to Halure two months ago. She was in a pretty bad shape and in a state of shock. But even if Estelle and the villagers took care of her, Annabelle had remained silent during the first weeks, and one day she suddenly said "Mom and Dad aren't here anymore".

Although the circumstances of her parents death are still vagues, Estelle and the villagers decided to not rush things and to give some time to Annabelle.

Now Estelle is pleased to see the girl a little more opened. She even made a few friends, but she's still in shock and doesn't speak too much.

"Now I really have to go," said Estelle, getting up. "Or my friends will be angry at me!"

After the children left, she finally managed to reach the top of the hill. Everybody was there, looking at the tree in full bloom.

The first one to notice her was Judith, the beautiful blue-haired Krytian. Wearing her usual revealing outfit (a few male villagers who happened to pass by nearly fell when looking at her), her crimson eyes were looking at the princess coming to them.

"Oh, look who's there."

"Estelle!" said the youngest and shortest one of the group. Karol Capel, it's his name, is the boss of the guild Brave Vesperia, despite his young age.

"Everyone! I'm so glad to see you again! And Rita, you're here too!"

"Well, circumstances made me to be there."

Rita Mordio was also there, standing next to Karol. The young mage, a native from Aspio, seemed to be rather happy to see the princess. Though she wasn't willing to show it to the others.

Raven, the oldest one of the party, can be seen further courting some young womans. But Estelle's eyes were looking here and there; someone was missing.

"Hum... where's Yuri?"

Karol's bright smile faded a little bit.

"Well... how to say it..."

"He's actually away for one month, with Repede," Judith explained. "A job in Mantaic. Even if you sent us the invitation letter two weeks ago, he said he won't be able to be there in time."

"Oh... I see..."

Estelle was in fact a little bit disappointed. Since she left the Imperial Capital, Karol, Rita and Judith came very often to visit her; Karol and Judith giving her news about the guild, Rita about her research on mana... And during her numerous stays at Zaphias, Raven escorted her very often as Captain Schwann.

And as for Yuri... Well, she hasn't be able to see him for two months now. According to Karol, he was the most busy member of the guild. Now that Blastia have completely disappeared, Yuri is really sollicited for escort and hunting... thanks to his notoriety as an excellent swordsman.

"And talking about the guild... how are you doing, Karol?"

"Well, we have new members now! But they couldn't come here because they're in the middle of a job too!"

"You have new members? That's wonderful!"

"That's awful instead," Rita commented. "They're as idiots and cowards as Karol, anyway."

"Rita, you're mean!" Karol was outraged. "They're respectables members of our guild... and they're nicer than you..."

As a response, Rita simply punched him in the head.

"Ooouch!"

Estelle smiled. It was like old times, when they were all travelling together. But...

"I really wished Yuri had come, though..."

"Don't worry about that," Judith told her. "He said that once the job finished, he'll pay Halure a little visit."

"If you say so..."

The mayor appeared before them.

"Miss Estellise! The librarian is waiting for you. I asked her to wait for you at your house. You shouldn't keep her waiting."

"O... okay". Estelle faced her friends. "Hey, I have an idea, why don't you come at my house? I've got some cookies and cakes..."

Karol jumped up and down.

"Cookies and cakes, you said?"

"Did ya' just said librarian?"

Everyone turned back. Apparently, Raven had finished courting the two ladies, who were leaving with blushing faces and grins from ear to ear.

"Poor things..." Judith was watching them with a worry expression.

"Why are ya' sayin' that, Judy darlin'?"

"I wonder what you said to them..."

Raven crossed his arms behind his head.

"Anyway, we know the issue. They'll end up in tears."

"Oh, sweet Rita! I'm not that kind of man, ya know!"

"Shut up, you old pervert."

The mayor were watching those "strange" people arguing with each other, half-amused, half-embarassed.

"Hum... Miss Estellise..."

"Oh yes, I'm sorry. Come on, everyone, my house is just over there!"

* * *

><p>On the way to Estelle's house...<p>

"The librarian's name is Mystery Waterflow" Rita suddenly said to Estelle.

"Eh? How do you know that?"

" Actually, when I was getting ready to leave, she came at my house, and asked me to accompany her. I still don't know why she hadn't called a guild for that."

Raven sneaked between Estelle and Rita.

"Mystery Waterflow, huh? Oooh, I can imagine her... a sensual and mysterious woman... a paradise for the great Raven! Can you describe her... ouch!"

Rita stepped on Raven's foot.

"You'll be disappointed, old man. Actually, I don't even know how she looks like."

"What do you mean?"

"She's entirely wrapped in a long dark cloak. And her face is hidden behind a strange mask, too. During all the travel, she didn't removed it. Even for sleeping and eating. Man, a painful one! First, she asked me to accompany like if I was her dog, and during all the travel it was like I was a ghost to her... What's with her anyway?"

"Oooh, I see... a capricious beauty hiding herself? But don't worry, the Great Raven is here and will bring her beauty to light!"

"Estelle, let's hurry."

"Huh... yeah..."

"Hey! Don't leave me behind!"

* * *

><p>A little away from the others, Estelle's house was a charming and lovely building, with a little garden full of colorful flowers behind. The house, built with cream stones, supported by dark wooden planks, was standing on a wood platform, and stairs were leading to a rounded shaped door. Some plants were climbing over the walls.<p>

"Welcome to my house!"

"My, what a lovely house" Judith commented. "It's like a fairytale cottage..."

"Yes. The people here really did a good job..."

Indeed, when the news about the princess coming to live in Halure, the villagers immediately rallied together and built the house... And when Estelle arrived, the house was ready and already furnished.

A voice, coming from nowhere, reached their ears.

"I was waiting for you, Princess Estellise."

Someone was standing there, just next to them.

"Ah!" Karol was surprised. "How did she get there without us noticing her? I was sure there wasn't anybody just before..."

The woman was entirely wrapped in a dark dress, with a large hood hiding her head and hair. Her face was hidden behind a rather strange mask. But the most strange thing... there weren't any holes for the eyes into the mask.

This matched perfectly Rita's description.

"You're Miss Waterflow, right? Nice to meet you. I'm Estellise, but please call me Estelle."

"I will stay with Princess Estellise." The voice was cold and quite deep.

"Really, I wouldn't mind if you..."

"I said I will stay with Princess Estellise, thank you for you concern. So, I am here to talk with you about the festival's preparations," the woman abruptely continued. "About the reading session you're going to give under the tree. It would be better if we can talk in a more private room."

"Oh, err... right. Yes, you're right... What about my house?"

"I don't mind."

"I've also invited my friends..."

"Neither."

"O... okay... so you can go ahead. I think the door is opened. The living room is just next to the entrance."

The woman bowed her head and entered the house. Estelle sighed.

"Wow... sweet Rita, ya didn't said to us she was so frightenin'!" Raven frowned.

"I didn't? Well... To tell you the truth, she didn't speak at all during the travel. Worse than that Duke guy."

"She's really scary..." Karol added. "And can she see where she places her feet? The mask is entirely hiding her face, even the eyes!"

"Anyway, let's go," Rita reached the entrance. "If we solve that matter quickly... then we can get rid of her and forget her quickly."

"I wonder what she'll do if she had actually heard you, Rita..." the young boy said.

Estelle was looking at her house's door. What a strange woman, indeed... she was still shaken by that woman's coolness.

* * *

><p>Festivities have now began. During the first day, the festival went well without major incidents. Music was resonating through the streets, people can be seen dancing everywhere. There were also delicious meals, drinks, conferences around the tree about it history... Estelle was really happy. There was also people coming from all over the world! Right there, she had just finished talking with a couple coming from Dahngrest.<p>

It's sunset now. Estelle was preparing herself for her last reading session of the day. Helped by Mystery, both of them were installing chairs and lights, at the bottom of the tree.

"I'm really glad you're here, Miss Waterflow. Thank you for your help!"

Mystery simply bowed her head and left silently. Estelle took the book she was going to read to her future audience; actually a story she had just written a few days ago. The story about a forbidden love between a simple citizen and a noble woman...

Night was now well advanced. Many people came to hear Estelle's story. There was a great silent, as everybody was captivated by the story. Only the sounds of cicadas could be heard.

The end of her story was welcomed with overwhelming applauses. Then came the time for congratulations; even Laura Tellias, a famous author and one of Estelle's favorite ones, came to personally greet her.

Now people began to disperse, on to the next step: eat, drink and dance until the morning!

"That was awesome, Estelle!" Karol exclaimed, raising his arms.

"Thas was good, but... ya' should have based the guy on Raven the Great!"

"Shut up, you old man." Here's Rita with one of her favorites sentences.

"You're really a good writer. Love stories... I really love that kind of stuff, you know. I had a great time hearing you." Judith complimented her.

"Thank you, everyone!"

"So, what should we do now? " The Krytian continued. "I don't think those people are ready to sleep."

"I'm not against a little cup of wine" Raven said.

"Ooh great..." Rita groaned. "Listen, old man, if you go wild, I don't know you, right?"

"Sweet Rita, why are you so mean... ?"

"And stop calling me like that!"

"I think there is a candy shop somewhere" Estelle stated. "Why don't we all go together? It's just next to the bar."

"Yeah, candies!" Karol jumped.

"All right, then. To the candy shop." Judith concluded.

As they were going to leave, a voice interpellated them from behind.

"Woah, you're not going to leave me behind and have all the fun for you, don't ya'?"... then followed by a well-known bark.

* * *

><p>Hum... I know it's a boring chapter (difficult to write though...), plus I've got the uneasy feeling I'm missing something... ah, well...<p>

Things should get more interesting in the next chapters...

Reviews, reviews, please! Tell me what did you think of that!

EDIT: had to correct the layout... wanted to separate the different parts with stars, but... stars didn't show up... -sigh- so I used instead the horizontal ruler...


	3. Broken Seal

Sorry for keeping you waiting! Actually I was busy with making my cosplay for Japan Expo in Paris, so...

I also wanted to thanks people who added my story to their alert list! You really made me happy! And "ouah!", I didn't expected to have so many hits and visitors! More than 100 in June!

So, so, enough talking, let's begin!

I don't own Tales of Vesperia. And once again, don't blame me if you see grammatical mistakes as English isn't my native language...

* * *

><p><strong>03. Broken Seal<strong>

"Yummy, look at all those humans! We should make a good feast with them!"

"Stop it! We're enough suspicious like that, so don't add more!"

Two people, dressed with dark clothes, their face hidden under a hood, were making their way through the crowd.

The first one, a tall and large-boarded man, was clearing the way, pushing away people with his two large hands. The second, more frail and skinner, was following him. Possibly a female.

"Oh, there's even a bar there!", said the woman. "This is were humans drink their special sake! You know, the sake they make is different than the one we usually drink... I want to taste it! Hey, hey, can we go there?"

"No. We are not here for fun, you know!" her friend dryly replied with a deep voice. "Our mission is to break the Seal! The host will be there at anytime, so we must be ready! Especially you..."

"Yes, yes, I know!" the woman replied, like a child whose parents had refused to buy candies for.

Around them, people were staring at them with strange looks on their face. "Who are those people?", "What are they talking about?" can be heard here and there...

"Why are they looking at us like that?" the woman muttered. "We're dressed like them, what's the problem?"

"Well... not really..."

Suddenly, both of them stopped. In synchronization, their head slowly followed the silhouette passing next to them. A thin person, wrapped with dark-toned clothes, and a mask covering her face... The two remained silent, until they loose sight of their target, disappearing in the crowd.

"They're here. As expected." the man conclued.

The woman behind sniffled. "Hum... sounds like it's the only one here, though. But with the clothes it's wearing, I can't figure out who is it really."

"We must be careful, then. They'll certainly try to stop us."

"In that case, I'll find a female human host. Yeah, if I possess a human body, that wolf will be limited in its movements."

"Yes, you're right. Let's go then."

"Hum, before that..."

The woman caught her friend's sleeve.

"What again?"

"… do you think we have time to pay a little visit to the bar? I really want to taste human's sake."

"… you drunkard."

* * *

><p>Mystery Waterflow was now leaving Estelle's house, holding a box of exemplaries of the princess's new book. A free distribution was organized at the end of the reading session. As she was walking, her dress and cape were floating behind her.<p>

"_Miryoku the kitsune, and her partner Kenmei the oni. This is strange, they should have massacred everyone already, and yet..._"

She continued on walking, ignoring the strange looks the people were giving to her on her way.

"_It's possible they're not here to kill humans, after all. I must be cautious._ _Huh?_"

She suddenly stopped her walk. Around her, humans, animals, flower petals, wind... everything came to a standstill. As if time has stopped. Colors were reversed... She raised her head.

A strange yet powerful feeling that only lasted a few seconds. Then, everything came back to normal.

She seemed to be the only one who noticed it, as people around her was continuing on dancing, drinking and singing carefreely.

"Impossible..." she whispered. "He shouldn't be here! Why didn't I noticed him earlier?"

People heard a "boum!" followed by a "splash!". When they came to see what happened, the only thing they saw was a wooden box submerged in a puddle, with books scattered on the ground...

* * *

><p>Estelle turned back to see who just spoke.<p>

A tall and slim young man was standing there, in front of the tree. His dark and long hair were undulating in the wind. Holding his sword with the sheath in his left hand, he was looking at Estelle with his sparkling grey eyes. Then he grinned.

"Yu... Yuri?" Estelle murmured, in desbelief.

"Didn't expected me to be there, huh?"

Estelle lips stretched, forming a large smile.

"Yuri! You... you came!"

"Of course I came! Hey, whoa, hold on a sec-"

Too late. Estelle had already rushed into him and was now hugging him.

"Ho, looks like the boy made it in time!" Raven commented, crossing his arms behind his head.

"Yuri! I'm so glad to see you!"

"Yeah, me too... Now... can you let me? I... can't breathe..."

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Estelle let him go. "But... Karol and the others said you weren't coming..."

"That wasn't true" the Krytian explained.

"We wanted to make you a surprise, Estelle!" Karol said proudly.

"Everyone... Rita too?" Estelle asked.

"Well, I didn't want, but I was forced to."

Judith tilt her head. "Hum... you said that as if we treated you as a slave, but... you were the one who happily suggested the idea of Yuri being busy in Mantaic."

"A job in Mantaic?" Yuri said, nearly laughing. "Come on, you should have found better than this!"

"Shut up. It worked, right? Plus, you're late. So no complaining."

Yuri sighed. "Well, whatever..."

Next to him, Estelle joined her hands and closed her eyes. "Now, we're all together. Like before..."

Yuri put his right hand on his hip. "Yeah. It's been a while we haven't been able to be together like that, right?"

Estelle nodded.

"Now that everybody is here, what do we do?" asked Karol. "I heard there's a candy shop somewhere in the village!"

"Hummm, candies... not my cup of tea" Raven said, starting to walk away from the group. "Me, I need my daily glass of wine... The bar must be near..."

"Old man, if you go wild..." Rita took a few moments before finally saying, "I-don't-know-you. Right?"

"Ouch, sweet Rita, why are you so mean with me?"

"Stop calling me like that!"

Rita continued on shouting on Raven as he was leaving, joining the dancing and singing crowd.

"What is it, Estelle?" asked Yuri, noticing that the princess was watching here and there a little nervously.

"Oh, err... it's nothing... Miss Waterflow was supposed to come, but..."

"Oh right, the free distribution" Judith looked around. "But everyone left..."

"Miss Waterflow? Who is it?"

"My assistant. She came from Aspio to help me with my reading sessions. She went to my house to take the books... but she didn't came back... I hope she isn't in trouble..."

"In that case, we should go look for her" Karol claimed. "Rita, can you come with me? You guys stay here, in the case she comes back."

"Me? Why do I have to look for that weirdo? And with you?"

"A weirdo, huh?" Yuri said sarcasticaly. "She must be like you then."

"What?"

"Ha, come on Rita, we're going!" Karol said, pulling Rita's sleeve and dragging her with him.

"I swear, when I come back, you're gonna pay for that, Yuri Lowell!"

"Aye, aye, genius mage!"

Estelle smiled. It was, for a short moment, like when they were travelling together. Indeed, it has been two months she hadn't seen Yuri. By looking at him, she can feel that he was very pleased with his new life.

Then she remembered that Repede was there too. She kneeled down and attempted to pat Repede, but... the dog abruptely turned his head and moved away from her. As usual. Estelle sighed.

Yuri smiled to her. "Let's... just say it's his own way to greet you, Estelle."

"Why does he hates me?"

Both of them looked at Repede lying lazily on the ground, next to the tree. Yuri is the first to break the silence.

"So? I heard you're no longer an imperial candidate, right?"

"Yes, it's official now. But the Council said I'm still a member of the Royal family..."

"Huh, I see, they won't let you go easily... And what about Commandant Flynn?"

"Oh yes, he's fine. You know, before I leave the castle, he charged me to tell you that you still own him a fight."

"Ah, that one... but it was months ago! He still remember that?"

"What happened?"

"Actually, at that time I was working on a job in Zaphias and I paid him a little visit" Yuri smiled. "And I don't remember why, we ended up arguing at each other. But I was in a hurry, so I left before we settled the thing..."

"Oh, I see..."

The relations between Yuri and Flynn, two childhood friend, had always been ambiguous. They are really different from each other: Yuri, a wild swordman with a rude personnality, acting on his own, against Flynn, a polite knight acting according to the rules. Two opposite personnalities. But they do have elements in common: they are stubborn and don't hesitate to risk their life in order to help the others.

Estelle looked at Yuri.

"And you? Karol said you were really busy..."

"Oh, that... Yeah, I don't know why, I was given all the craziest jobs of this world. Like last time, I was supposed to hunt some monsters for a client because he wanted them as pets..."

"Ah, I remembered that." Judith said, joining in the conversation. "And the upset face you were making when you came back."

"That guy was a real pain. But hey, work is work, if I didn't accepted it would be only trouble for the guild. But the job was well paid. So, no complaining..."

Yuri was interrupted by Repede's growls. The dog was ready to attack.

"Repede?"

"In that case, why didn't you killed him? Humans are so difficult to understand, sometime..."

Yuri, Estelle and Judith frowned. The female voice they just heard was unknown to them.

Just in front of them, coming from nowhere, someone wrapped with dark clothes and the head hidden under a hood, was standing.

"Oh, Miss Waterflow, it's you?" Estelle asked, a little bit relieved.

"Waterflow? Oh... I see, this is how she's called here... How long do they intend to play comedy with humans?"

Estelle and Yuri looked at each other. What was she talking about?

Judith was looking at the newcomer, and strangely she was shaking and sweating. Yuri had never seen the krytian lose her composure like that.

Judith crisped her hand on her spear. "You... weren't supposed to be there!"

"A Krytian? Oho, fun in sight! Hum, actually, we're not here to fight. Hey, young boy there! Take off your clothes! It would be easier for me..."

"Huh? What the hell?"

"Is she talking about Yuri?" Estelle gasped, covering her mouth with her hands.

The stranger approached Yuri.

"Yes you, girly boy. You heard me, right? Take off your clothes."

"Girly boy? She is... pretty straight..." Estelle stammered.

The swordman was staying impassive.

"Sorry, it's not my cup of tea to do a strip-tease show before everyone. Did you drink too much, by any chance?"

"Hum maybe, but it helps me to increase my magical power... Hey, you've got nerves, for a human! I like you. Now, be a good boy and do what I told you."

Judith was regaining her self-control. "Wow Yuri, looks like you have more fans. Perveted fans, this time"

"Looks like it... and when I was thinking about spending a good night without any problems..."

A second person, much bigger than the first one but wearing the same clothes, came out from the dark. "Miryoku, I took care of the princess, thanks to the human girl you were controlling."

"Ooh, Kenmei! And...?"

"I sent a her a wood stick and she ran after that, like a good dog! So, Miryoku, are you ready?"

"Yes!"

The woman stretched her arms and, in a whirl of light, a strange-looking instrument appeared in her hands. An instrument composed of several small bells, with the handle decored with several multicolored ribbons. Without hesitation, her companion immediately rushed toward Yuri.

"No!" Judith interposed herself between the called Kenmei and her friend.

"Don't fight us, Krytian. It's better for you."

Judith smiled to him. "Well, my intuition is just saying that I can't let you lay a finger on my friend."

"Well, you don't give me the choice. Miryoku, I take care of that one. You, do what you have to do."

Even if her face was darkened by the hood she was wearing, a devil smile clearly appeared on the woman's lips.

Repede didn't hesitate. Dagger firmly maintened between his teeth, he jumped on the woman... but a gust of wind stopped him in his rush and sent him against the tree. He fell on the ground, no longer moving.

"Repede! Are you okay?" Yuri shouted, looking at the immobilized dog.

Estelle was shaking, totally confused. Judith was overwhelmed by the man's strength. The woman beat Repede in a blink of eye, without lifting a finger. Who are those people? But there is one thing she is sure about: they are after Yuri. So Yuri is in danger.

Yuri was ready to draw his sword, but she was faster and took her own sword. She stepped before the woman.

"Estelle..."

"I don't know what you want, but I won't let you hurt him!"

The woman sighed.

"Humans... so strange... young one, a princess shouldn't play with a sword, right? Now go back to your castle and play with your dolls! Or... hey, wait a minute..."

"Princess? How do you know that?"

"Now, that's enough!" Yuri was really angry now. He drew his sword and was ready to attack, but... "Estelle?"

The princess was slowly turning to face him. Her eyes was now lifeless, and her face expressionless.

"Estelle, what's wrong?"

Behind Estelle, the woman started to snigger.

"I need time to prepare the spell, and Kenmei is busy with that Krytian. Finally, maybe I can use you, young princess! Ah, controlling woman's soul is sooo easy!"

Yuri was too surprised to react. Everything happened in a flash; his sword slipped out from his hands, and his back was against the tree. The princess pointed her sword on Yuri's neck.

"Estelle... wake up!" She was possessed, no doubt about it. Yuri can see it through her lifeless eyes.

Estelle slashed in diagonal, ripping Yuri's shirt and revealing entirely his chest.

"We kitsune are well-known for our mind control ability" the woman explained, getting closer to Yuri. "Be sure he doesn't escape, candy girl." After she pronounced those words, Estelle dropped her sword and pinned Yuri against the tree's trunk.

"Estelle!" Yuri tried to free himself, but Estelle was too powerful. "_Dammit, since when she got so strong?_"

"Now, we can begin."

The hooded woman ringed the bell. A surnatural and powered sound came, causing Yuri to shout in pain.

"_What... is it? My whole body is hurting... I can't... move..._"

Second ring. More pain. It's like something wanted to come out from his body.

"The body is responding to the call." Kenmei joined Miryoku. Judith was lying on the ground, beaten. "It's working. Continue, Miryoku."

The woman Miryoku kept on ringing the bells and started an incantation.

_Flowers are spreading, bells are singing. _

At each sound produced by the bells, Yuri can feel the pain growing progressively. Wind rushed, shaking the branches of the tree.

_May this Tree be the witness of the ceremony._

A flower-patterned tatoo appeared on Yuri's chest, glowing.

"The Seal!" the man exclaimed.

_With those Bells forged by the Kingdom of Demons_

_May the Seal breaks._

An explosion of light spreaded all over the village, blinding everyone. A luminous column raised into the sky...

* * *

><p>In Zaphias, Flynn was working peacefully in his office, when a light coming from outside suddenly lightened the room. Was it day already? Flynn turned to look at the window... and saw that strange column of light, piercing through the clouds.<p>

"What... is that?"

Dahngrest, Capua Nor, Capua Torim, Mantaic... people from all the world was looking at that strange column glowing with a worrying light.

Yes, a worrying feeling became to take root on people's mind.

* * *

><p>"Can you sense this overwhelming power? The Seal has been broken. Okugi failed."<p>

Chie and Kansei looked at their sister Shinsetsu. Even if their faces were still hidden because of the darkness of the room, they were surprised.

"Those demons got us" Now Kansei was fulminating. He hit the floor with his fist.

"I'm going to check the shrine" said Chie, finally getting up. "Kansei, you stay here and calm down. Don't try anything reckless until Okugi returns."

"But!"

"Kansei, please. Shinsetsu, stay with him. When everyone will be reunited, we will have to think about a plan of emergency."

"Of course."

* * *

><p>Back in Halure, the column of light vanished progressively. At the bottom of the tree, only the man and the woman were standing.<p>

"It worked." Then he looked at Yuri, now sitting against the tree, unconscious. "Miryoku, let's take the boy before humans begin to gather here."

The man tried to reach out Yuri, but a wall of water stopped him in his momentum. He leaped backward furiously. Before him, the water soon took the shape of a woman dressed with dark clothes, and the face covered by a mask...

"You... you have came back faster than I thought."

"Ah, so humans here know you as Miss Waterflow, right?"

The masked woman didn't answered to Miryoku's question. "Your goal was to release the Seal. Now leave at once."

"Your forgot one thing: "take the boy too" is also a part of our goal." Kenmei replied.

"Maybe I failed at preventing the Seal from being broken, but I won't let you lay a finger on him."

"Huh! Stinking wolves's pride, right?"

"Stinking wolves? How dare you..."

The ground started to shake and to crack, causing water to gush out from the cracks. Miryoku caught her friend's sleeve.

"Kenmei, let's go! She's really angry, we don't stand a chance against her!"

"Tchh..." Kenmei really wanted to finish the mission, but Miryoku was right. They are Her Majesty's most powerful demons, but... "Don't think this is over, Water Princess. We will come back to retrieve that young human. We need him."

Miryoku and Kenmei disappeared in the dark.

The masked woman calmed herself and took a look around her. Yuri, the dog, the princess and the krytian Judith, everyone was lying on the cracked ground, unconscious. She was particularly looking at Yuri when she heard panicked voices coming from the dark and getting closer. Reacting quickly, her body transformed into water and she disappeared in a "splash!", like when she appeared.

* * *

><p>Short chapter, but... rather difficult to write. Actually I wanted to write more, and finally I thought it will be better to keep my ideas for the next chapter.<p>

Hope you enjoyed it!


	4. Confusion

Here it is! Chapter 4!

Many many thanks to the reviewers and readers who put my story on their alert/favorite list!

I will left from July 16th to July 24th for a music course... I will bring my computer with me, but I don't know if there will an Internet connexion there... anyway, I'll see.

And again, I don't own Tales of Vesperia.

Enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong>04. Confusion<strong>

The first lights of dawn were annoucing the beginning on the day. A strange day. People woke up with the memory of what happened last night. That strange column of light which raised into the sky; some found it pretty, others thought of that as a bad omen.

In Estelle's room, Judith was standing in front of the window, looking absent-mindedly at the rising sun. She was interrupted in her thoughts by weak moans coming from behind her. She smiled, visibly relieved.

"Huh... urgh... oww... where am I?..."

While hearing those words, Judith turned round. "Looks like you're awake. Welcome back."

"Judith?" Yuri sat with difficulty on the bed. He looked around him, a bit confused.

"This is Estelle's room." Judith explained.

"… how did I end up here?"

"You don't remember?"

"Well..."

"I'll give you a clue: you arrived in Halure yesterday."

Halure... memories began to slowly come back to his mind. Yes, after the guild job was finished, he paid Estelle a visit during the festival... when they were attacked by two strange persons...

_"In that case, why didn't you killed him? Humans are so difficult to understand, sometime..."_

_Yuri, Estelle and Judith frowned. The female voice they just heard was unknown to them._

_Just in front of them, coming from nowhere, someone wrapped with dark clothes and the head hidden under a hood, was standing._

_"Oh, Miss Waterflow, it's you?" Estelle asked, a little bit relieved._

_"Waterflow? I see, this is how she's called here... How long do they intend to play comedy with humans?"_

_Estelle and Yuri looked at each other. What was she talking about?_

…

_A second person, much bigger than the first one but wearing the same clothes, came out from the dark. "Miryoku, I took care of the princess, thanks to the human girl you were controlling."_

_"Ooh, Kenmei! And...?"_

_"I sent a her a wood stick and she ran after that, like a good dog! So, Miryoku, are you ready?"_

_"Yes!"_

_The woman stretched her arms and, in a whirl of light, a strange-looking instrument appeared in her hands. An instrument composed of several small bells, with the handle decored with several multicolored ribbons. Without hesitation, her companion immediately rushed toward Yuri._

_"No!" Judith interposed herself between the called Kenmei and her friend._

_"Don't fight us, Krytian. It's better for you."_

_Judith smiled to him. "Well, my intuition is just saying that I can't let you lay a finger on my friend."_

_"Well, you don't give me the choice. Miryoku, I take care of that one. You, do what you have to do."_

_Even if her face was darkened by the hood she was wearing, a devil smile clearly appeared on the woman's lips. _

_Repede didn't hesitate. Dagger firmly maintened between his teeth, he jumped on the woman... but a gust of wind stopped him in his rush and sent him against the tree. He fell on the ground, no longer moving._

_"Repede! Are you okay?" Yuri shouted, looking at the immobilized dog._

…

_Yuri was ready to draw his sword, but Estelle was faster and took her own sword. She stepped before the woman. _

_"Estelle..."_

_"I don't know what you want, but I won't let you hurt him!"_

_The woman sighed._

_"Humans... so strange... young one, a princess shouldn't play with a sword, right? Now go back to your castle and play with your dolls! Or... hey, wait a minute..."_

_"Princess? How do you know that?"_

_"Now, that's enough!" Yuri was really angry now. He drew his sword and was ready to attack, but... "Estelle?"_

_The princess was slowly turning to face him. Her eyes was now lifeless, and her face expressionless._

_"Estelle, what's wrong?"_

_Behind Estelle, the woman started to snigger._

_"I need time to prepare the spell, and Kenmei is busy with that Krytian. Finally, maybe I can use you, young princess! Ah, controlling woman's soul is sooo easy!"_

_Yuri was too surprised to react. Everything happened in a flash; his sword slipped out from his hands, and his back was against the tree. The princess pointed her sword on Yuri's neck._

_"Estelle... wake up!" She was possessed, no doubt about it. Yuri can see it through her lifeless eyes._

_Estelle slashed in diagonal, ripping Yuri's shirt and revealing entirely his chest. Then she pointed her sword on Yuri's neck._

_"We kitsune are well-known for our soul-controlling ability" the woman explained, getting closer to Yuri. "Be sure he doesn't escape, candy girl." After she pronounced those words, Estelle dropped her sword and pinned Yuri against the tree's trunk._

_"Estelle!" Yuri tried to free himself, but Estelle was too powerful. "Dammit, since when she's so strong?"_

_"Now, we can begin"._

_The hooded woman ringed the bell. A surnatural and powered sound came, causing Yuri to shout in pain._

…

The sound of the bell... Each ringing was hurting his body more and more. Then he was plunged into a blinding light. And after that... nothing.

"Oh yeah, now I remember..."

Judith sat next to him, a pile of clothes in her hands. She handed them to Yuri.

"There. The tailor really did a great job."

"Thanks... I remember you were pretty beaten yesterday. Are you all right?"

"I copped with just a few scratches. Their goal wasn't to fight nor kill us." As she was saying those words, Judith returned to the window.

"Where are they, anyway? Mages?"

The Krytian remained silent.

"They easily surpassed us. And the mind-something that woman was babbling about..."

Judith sighed.

"What's wrong, Judy?"

"Hmm? Oh, nothing."

"You seems to be... miles away."

"Do I really give this impression?"

"Yes. Is it, by any chance... because you know something about what happened yesterday?"

Judith lowered her head, hesitating. She stayed like that during several and long seconds.

"Judy?"

"Did you heard about travelers been attacked on the roads by strange monsters?" She suddenly asked.

"Yeah... I heard knights talking about it when I was In Dahngrest... it was a week ago. Why?"

"It was _them._ It's a supposition, but... After hearing the travelers's stories... savages attacks with unusual precision and speed, even the most skilled warriors weren't able to do something... I concluded that only them were capable of such things."

"You mean, the two of yesterday?"

"Not only them... the species of their kind. They aren't Entelexeia. They are called Demons."

"Demons?..."

"Demons are mythological creatures endowed with strange abilities. Some can take human forms and can speak our language. There are several types of demons. I don't know much of them, so I can't tell what type of demons the two who attacked us were."

"Strange abilities, you say... I understand now, that woman was controlling Estelle's mind..."

"The ability to manipulate people's souls and to left the victims with no memories of what happened," Judith explained.

"I never heard of Demons before... maybe the boss know something..."

"No. Humans normally don't know about them. And those who were enough unfortunate to meet them... they never escaped alive."

"Really? So... what about you? How do you know about that? And wait, you said those who met them didn't escaped alive... but you heard the victims's stories, right? So there are survivors, after all." Yuri wasn't angry when he said that, but he knew something was wrong. Judith didn't answered.

Judith frowned, visibly irritated. "I'm sorry. I can't tell more."

Yuri sighed. "Well, most importantly, we must be careful about those demons, right?"

"I'm sorry."

"Stop it, you sound like Estelle now..." That made Judith smile a bit. "By the way, how are the others?" Yuri continued.

"They're workind hard to repair the damage caused by the attack. I explained everything to the others, but not about the demons yet."

A few seconds of silence followed.

"Oh, I just noticed it. I didn't know you love tattoos."

"Tattoo? What tattoo?"

"On your chest."

The man loweled his head and caught sight of the famous tatoo, drawn on the right side of his chest. The drawing, as if it was painted with black ink, was depicting a flower with strange symbols written around.

"Huh? What is that?"

"You don't know about it?"

"I... I don't remember having this before I came here."

"Hmm... you know, even if I as beaten, I was still conscious. I saw that thing glowing when the demon was using the bells."

"Great... more confusion..."

Yuri sighed, visibly overtaken by events.

"Demons, tatoo appearing from nowhere, lights... Why the hell all the crazier things come across me?"

"A real trouble magnet."

"Well, it's not new..." He took off his blanket. "So, I'm gonna get changed."

"And?"

"And what? Well, that's obvious! Unless you think that watching at a man changing himself is really interesting?"

"Hum... maybe so... I didn't tested that before."

"You're not serious, huh?"

The Krytian smiled and got to the door. "Just joking. I'll let you and your privacy alone. I'm not like that demon who asked you to undress, after all. Although I must admit she has guts."

And as she closed the door, Yuri sighed once again.

"Demons, huh... But... there is something I can't understand... Why were they after me?"

* * *

><p>When he left Estelle's house, the sun was already high in the sky, and the streets crowded. Stepping at the door, he saw Repede happily coming toward him.<p>

"Hey Repede, looks like you're in great shape!"

"Woof!" The blue-fured dog energetically barked, happy to see his friend back to health.

Both of them joined the top of the hill, where the Tree was standing, contemplating the damages. The ground was totally cracked... as if the cause was an earthquake. There were enormous water puddles scattered everywhere and around the Tree. Fortunately, the Tree doesn't seems to be affected.

"Wow... Did Rita casted a water spell here?"

"Yuri! Yuri!"

"Oh, and here is the boss..."

In one second, Karol was next to him, followed by Rita.

"Yuri, you're okay!"

"Of course I am! You know how I'm strong!"

"Well, when we saw the villagers taking you to Estelle's house, it wasn't the case" Rita said, crossing her arms. "Judith told us. You were attacked, right?"

"Yeah... though I don't know why..."

"Yuri... you're really a trouble magnet." Karol said with an upset face.

"Trouble magnet, huh..." Yes, now he was used to this, but... this time was different. So many questions, so many mysteries to shed light on... it was just too incredible to simply take it lightly.

Estelle wasn't too far away: she was discussing with the mayor and some villagers. All of them had serious expressions on their face.

"They're planning to cancel the festival," Rita said, guessing that Yuri wanted to know what Estelle and the others were talking about. "The events of yesterday caused serious damages, and people are too shocked and worried."

"But what happened yesterday was really strange! It went BOOM! The ground shaked and a strange light coming from the bottom of the tree and piercing through the sky in a WOOSH! And after a SPLASH!" Karol said, waving his arms.

"Wow, wow, calm down!" Yuri said, smiling.

Rita looked at him. "Yuri, you may know something, right? That light came from the place you and the others stayed..."

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't know either."

After Estelle finished her talking, she noticed Yuri and joined the group.

"Yuri, are you feeling better?"

"Yeah, thanks."

"I was so worried! When I faced that woman, I was suddenly feeling drowsy, and I collapsed... I was so scared they did something to you!"

"No, don't worry. Looks like they went soft on me."

"Actually, she spent most of the night casting First Aid on you." Rita explained. "Although you didn't appeared to have serious injuries."

"Rita!" Estelle faced the mage, blushing. "No, that's not true! I... I..."

"You really did that, Estelle? Well, thank you. Thanks to you, I'm alright now." Yuri winked to Estelle.

"Yuri..."

But now, the swordsman noticed something: Estelle doesn't seem to remember what she did last night.

_"I need time to prepare the spell, and Kenmei is busy with that Krytian. Finally, maybe I can use you, young princess! Ah, controlling woman's soul is sooo easy!"_

_Yuri was too surprised to react. Everything happened in a flash; his sword slipped out from his hands, and his back was against the tree. The princess pointed her sword on Yuri's neck._

_"Estelle... wake up!" She was possessed, no doubt about it. Yuri can see it through her lifeless eyes._

_Estelle slashed in diagonal, ripping Yuri's shirt and revealing entirely his chest. Then she pointed her sword on Yuri's neck._

It's exactly like Judith said: _"The ability to manipulate people's souls and to left the victims with no memories of what happened". _Freaking... Yuri choose to not tell her. No need to worry her much more. She's already stressed with the festival's matter.

"By the way, where is the old man?" Yuri asked while looking around.

"Somewhere" Rita simply answered, with a selfless expression. "That guy is just keeping popping around, and when you were just get used to his presence, he disappears. What a pain!"

Karol looked up at the former princess. "So Estelle, what have you decided?"

"Well, no surprises, the festival is cancelled. With what happened yesterday, the festival won't possibly continue in good conditions. What a shame!"

"Yeah, and you seemed to be really happy to organize that..." the young boy said to her.

"Besides, we don't know where Miss Waterflow is. It's like she... vanished."

"Humph, I knew that! She was playing the Ice Queen, but in fact she's a real coward!" Rita exclaimed, indignant.

"So, what are we gonna do?" Karol asked to his friends.

"It's up to you, boss"

"Mmh... maybe we should go to Dahngrest and expose the situation to the Union. Maybe they know something."

"Not a bad idea." Everyone looked back to see Judith coming in their way. She and Yuri exchanged a brief sight. "Bau'l just arrived. He can get us to Dahngrest."

"Thanks Judith, it will be of a great help!" Karol exclaimed, delighted. "But first, we have to finish our job."

"Job? What job?" the swordsman asked.

"The mayor hired us to help in clearing the village."

"So, what are we waiting for?" Judith started to leave the group. "And you, Rita?"

"Well, I'm not not in your guild, so I'm not concerned by that. But... I think I'm gonna give Estelle some help."

"Oh, thank you, Rita!"

"But I can't stay too long. I need to go back to Aspio quickly. You know, after Tarqaron's mess."

"Oh yes, that's right... How are things in Aspio?"

"We finished extracting bodies of people who were trapped under the rubbles. Our library was miraculously spared. My house too, surprisingly, so it means I can continue my researches."

"So there were dead people... I'm sorry for them..."

"Well, life is life. They were just too unfortunate to be in Tarqaron's way."

Karol tried to brighten the atmosphere.

"Hey guys, don't forget about the job!"

"Yes, yes, boss..." Yuri started to walk, following Judith. "Come on, let's go."

* * *

><p>"We are in a real critical situation. I never saw that since hundreds of years. And to think that I could have prevent this from happening..."<p>

"Don't worry, Shinsetsu. It's absolutely not your fault. We fulfilled our duties as we always do. Those demons managed to secretly make their plan, they confused us, and took advantage of our doubts and worries to strike."

"Chie..."

"Yes, don't worry, Shinsetsu!" Kansei's eternal optimism gave confidence to Shinsetsu.

"Yes, you're right. We don't have the time to mope about it. So, what are we going to do?"

"I just contacted Okugi. She's still in Halure, keeping secretly the demons away."

"Wow, they're fast! They don't waste in time! That means they really need him." Kansei said.

"The demons sended are still weak, so Okugi has no difficulty while dealing with them. We must react quickly. So, listen to me carefully..."

* * *

><p>After a day of hard work, the Tree's place was now nearly back to normal...<p>

"Hum... we tried really hard to fix the ground, but..." Karol was sweeping the entire place. "There are still traces. I can easily say something happened there."

"There are irreversible rifts." Judith concluded.

"Well, it's better than before." Yuri reassured them.

Night had started to fall. During all the day, people were leaving the village in a hurry.

"_Was it really okay to let them leave like that? What if demons attacked them?_" Yuri couldn't help but think of that.

Consecuently, at nightfall, the village was nearly empty... and depressing. Not like the feeling of joy he felt when he arrived last night.

Raven joined them at noon. Even if he didn't talk about the reason of his sudden disappearance, Yuri knew he was dealing with the knights presents for the festival, as Schwann. He saw him at the village's entrance.

But when Raven came back, he didn't helped them. He was just snoring and occasionnally teasing Rita and the others. Yuri sighed while remembering that.

"Thank you very much for your help!" the mayor bowed.

"We're sorry about what happened yesterday..."

"Oh no, don't worry about that, Mister Lowell! We'll just have to organize a new festival next year. Miss Estellise is already impatient to do that."

"That's good to hear."

"Unfortunately, we spent all of our money in preparing the festival and... repairing. So... I'm afraid I can't give you your reward right now..."

"No need to be worried, you can pay us later. Just don't forget." Karol said to the mayor.

"So, how about a good night of sleep? Old Raven is tired after all this work..."

"Tired... of doing nothing, yeah!" Rita crossed her arms.

"No, no, ya're wrong! I was encouraging everyone! It's pretty tiring, ya' know that?"

"Then, we don't have the same notion of encouraging." Judith said with a mocking tone.

"Oh, I know! I will ask the innkeeper to let you sleep for free at the inn. What do you think?" the mayor asked.

Karol thought about that for a few seconds. "We're all tired, and... Estelle wanted to invite us to her house, but it's too small for all of us... okay, we accept."

"Alright! I'll go inform the innkeeper."

As the mayor left, Karol faced his friends.

"So tomorrow, we're leaving for Dahngrest, right?"

"Yep. Let's have some rest." Yuri answered him.

* * *

><p>The village was now completely empty and silent. At the inn, in the boys's room, Yuri was just laying on the bed, arms crossed behind his head and contemplating thoughtfully at the ceiling.<p>

After a few minutes, he finally got up. The others were still asleep: Karol with his childish carefreeness, the old man with his legendaries snores.

Yuri left the room. Even if the sound of the door closing was almost inaudible, it woke up Repede. The dog knew something was wrong. Generally he lets his master alone... but now was different. Repede might be a dog, certainly, but he understands when things get wrong.

He decided to exit by the window. Passing through the door will be impossible, it will just wake the others. Repede sat on the window's edge and sized up the situation. Fortunately, the room is located on the first floor. So no risks.

Repede jumped and landed softly. He was now behind the inn. He went around the building and reached the entrance, just in time to see Yuri walking in the direction of the village's entrance.

"Woof!"

Yuri stopped, surprised. "Repede? Is that you?"

"Woof!"

"But... what are you doing here?"

The dog continued with a series of barks, agressive and worried at a time. Yuri sighed.

"What are you talking about? I'm just out for a walk."

Repede growled agressively in response.

"Looks like you already figured it out. Yeah, I know, I'm sorry. I didn't want to make the others worry about me... you included. But I guess it didn't worked, huh?"

"Woof!"

Yuri looked at the moon.

"I'm going to Zaphias alone. What happened yesterday was pretty crazy and confusing but... they were after me. Only me. I know that perfectly well, even if I still don't know why. It will be a problem if the others are dragged into this mess, right?" He resumed his walking. "Repede, you should stay here too."

"Woof!"

"Thanks, but you will be in danger too. Look, they didn't hesitated in attacking you."

"Woof! Woof!"

The dog rushed and standed in Yuri's way.

"Woah! Okay, okay, I give up... Now that I told you that, you won't let me alone, right?"

"Woof!"

"Okay then. Let's go."

After a few hours of walk, they finally reached Deidon Hold, located between two mountains. As in Halure, the place was quiet, with just a few knights patrolling here and there. It must be around midnight now.

There is no inn in Deidon Hold, but Yuri noticed Karen and Rich, itinerant innkeepers and owners of the King's Adventure.

"Hey, is that...?"

"Woof!"

"Oh, it's you!" Karen said cheerfully.

"… hello..." Rich mumbled, quite uninterested.

"Brother! Be more polite and cheerful!"

"I see, still happy as a grave..." Yuri said. "I thought you were on roads running your itinerant inn?"

"Well, actually..." Karen said, "Our next destination should be the roads between Deidon Hold and Zaphias, but... see, they blocked the access. We can't pass through Deidon Hold."

Yuri followed her finger pointing at the hold's entrance, leading to the roads to Zaphias. And she was right: the giant doors were closed.

"I think it's because of yesterday" Karen continued. "Did you saw that light? I think it was coming from Halure. When it appeared, Rich and me were still travelling, and when we arrived here, the knights refused to let us pass."

"Travelling? Were you attacked on the roads?"

"Hum... no. Actually, we crossed the plain without any problems."

Yuri remained silent.

"I hope the situation will get better to-"

Karen was interrupted by a scream resonating in all the outpost. It was an... indescribable sound. Actually, "inhuman" should be the proper adjective to qualify it...

"What's that sound?" Karen asked. "It's... scary..."

"It's coming from the warehouse." Rich claimed.

Yuri, followed by Repede, Karen, Rich and the knights in patrol rushed to the warehouse. But before the swordsman could touch the door's handle, another ear-splitting scream stopped him in his rush, forcing him and the others to cover their ears.

"Dammit, what is that?"

Repede was the one who suffered the most; the dog was now totally confused, his head spinning.

"Wow, that even made Repede all fuzzy..." Yuri managed to say between two screams.

The inhuman and piercing screams were accompagnied by noises of strikes, slashs, kicks... even noises of blood splashing. Someone – or something – is fighting.

Everyone waited, preparing for the worst.

After a few seconds, the noises stopped. Yuri hesitated... He slowly turned the handle. But the door was locked.

"Dammit..."

"What... what was that?" Karen asked, panicked.

"I don't know" Yuri answered. "But certainly that sound wasn't human..."

Monsters?... or maybe... _demons?_

"_Demons... yeah, that would make sense. Maybe they were following me secretly..._"

Yuri heard a "click!".

"The door? It opened?" Yuri once again turned the handle and opened the door.

No blood on the floor nor the walls. No traces of fight here. Just... flower petals scattered on the floor.

* * *

><p>There it is, one more chapter over! Actually, I'm not really satisfied with it but... I couldn't write it better. So I'm going to let it like that.<p>

Now, on to chapter 5! (and finishing to prepare my baggages...)


	5. A new customer

I'm back!

I'M REALLY SOOOORRY! This chapter should have been finished and posted a long time ago, but for some reasons... it didn't.

First, as I said I brought my computer with me for my musical course, but frankly I didn't had time to write something, and the internet there was really bad. Secondly, I re-discovered Perfect World... so I spent nearly two whole weeks playing it instead of writing (yes, shame on me!). And lastly, we were doing house work, painting the walls and changing the floor... which took us two whole days.

So, after some difficulties, here is chapter 5! This one is longer than the previous chapters. Also, if I remember correctly, I used the word "Demons" to describe my little new monsters, but now I will rather use "Yokais", since its in fact their real name. I re-read the whole chapter, replacing every "demon" by "Yokai", but there might be a few ones still hidden between the lines... I'm saying that so you won't be confused.

**Enjoy!  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>05. A new customer<strong>

Yuri and the others entered cautiously in the warehouse.

"Flowers?" Karen said, confused. "But... there was a fight, right? I didn't imagined it?"

The floor was strewn with pink-colored petals. A fight took place here, Yuri had no doubt about that: the noises of clash and blood jet were proof of that. Yuri searched in every nook and cranny of the room, but in vain... no traces of fight. Actually, it was like if nothing happened.

"Do... do you think it was... a ghost?" One the knights asked, his legs shaking.

"Idiot! Such things don't exist! You're a knight, right?"

Yuri stopped his inspection, knowing that doing so won't help him. He kneeled next to the dog, hoping the pooch will find something.

"So, Repede? Got anything?"

The dog whined.

"I see... not even the smell of blood..."

Suddenly, new noises, coming from upstairs, made them jump.

"Again?"

"… I hear sounds of kicks and swords..." Rich said, closing his eyes. "Another fight."

"That building has only one floor, right?" the first knight said. "Then it must be on the roof..."

The group rushed outside but... a strong wind made the door to closed itself, trapping them in the warehouse.

"What now?" Yuri said, trying to open the door... but of course, it didn't open.

"We're trapped..." Karen said, nearly crying.

"Sounds like those guys don't want us to see them." Yuri let the handle, knowing it was useless to keep on opening it.

A few minutes later, the noises stopped. There was a "click" at the door's lock. Yuri pushed the door, and the group could finally left the warehouse. The hold was silent, as before, and while looking at the warehouse's roof, they didn't see any changes.

"I told you, it's a ghost's doing!"

"Shut up!"

Yuri looked at the warehouse's top thoughtfully. "_Or maybe... yokai's tricks. Well, after what Judith told me, I can expect everything from those nasty things._"

"I want to hurry up and leave from here at once..." Karen claimed. "It's haunted!"

"Stop saying such childish things..." her brother said.

"But you saw that, right? We heard someone fighting, and... and... it's like nothing happened!"

Totally indifferent to all the agitation caused, Yuri was leaning against the warehouse's wall. There were no more suspicious noises, excluding those coming from the conversations between the knights about what just happened. Trying to change his mind, he left and walked towards the hold's gate, hoping to have some informations about the closing. The knights were too busy with talking about the strange events.

"Sorry, kid," one of the knights said, noticing him. "No one can pass. Official decision from the Empire."

"Yeah, I was expecting that... and why?"

"Sorry, I can't say anymore. It's top secret."

"Yeah, of course..." Yuri decided to not stay here any longer. He turned on his heels and walked away.

"And once again, a crazy night..."

Repede whined, agreeing with him.

"But I wonder what happened... It's like a freaking nightmare..."

"Hum... Mister Lowell?"

Yuri raised his head to see Karen standing in front of him.

"Well, I just wanted to say...if you'd like to pass the night here, our inn is opened..."

Yuri smiled. "You mean you want me as a bodyguard, right?"

"Ah... you don't need to tell it like that... but please..."

"Okay, okay, I get it. Anyway, I don't have the choice..."

* * *

><p>"Yuri Lowell! Wake up, you jerk!"<p>

"_Wow, there's even Rita's voice in my dreams... weird..._"

"I said WAKE UP!"

"The boy is totally out, I tell ya'. Maybe we should tickle his feet with a feather? Ah, princess, you still have Phaeroh's feather?"

"I'm afraid I let it in my house..."

"Huh... Rita, what are ya' going to do with that?"

"A little morning shower should be good for him."

SPLASH! The fresh water suddenly got Yuri out of his sleep.

"Hey! Who the hell did that?..."

"Good mornin', sleepy boy! Had a nice nap?"

Yuri recognized all of his friends: Rita, Raven, Estelle, Karol and Judith. Everyone was there, standing in the carriage, and looking at him with various expressions: Judith and Raven were amused, Estelle and Karol rather worried, and finally Rita totally furious.

"Guys! What are you doing here?"

"No! It's what are YOU doing here?" Rita said, pointing a finger at him. "What were you thinking?"

"It's not the first time you're doing that..." Karol noted.

Yuri sighed. "How did you found me, anyway?"

"You can thank your dog for that." Rita answered.

"Oww... Repede, you betrayer..."

Judith speaked too.

"Was it because of what I told you yesterday?"

The swordsman slightly blenched. Yes, pretty much...

"What did you told him, Judith?" Karol asked.

Judith waited a few seconds, and finally decided to explain herself.

"Before the appearance of that column of light, we were attacked by two creatures. We still don't know why, but they were after Yuri."

"Yeah, you already told us that... and?" Rita asked impatiently.

"Those creatures are not normal monsters. They are called Yokais. As I explained to Yuri, some of them can take human forms and speak our language. Like the two who attacked us."

"Yooo... kayes? Never heard of that before..." Karol claimed, crossing his arms. "How do they look like?"

Yuri noticed Raven standing in a corner. Sleeping, thinking? He doesn't really know, but... the old man seemed to be pretty calm after hearing such news... while the others were startled.

"Are they like Entelexeia?" Estelle asked.

"Yes... and no. They are less powerful. They normally show up at night, but... recently, they began on attacking travelers on roads, even the day."

"Attacking... travelers?" Estelle remembered Flynn's words, before her departure for Halure: "_I know, but still, be careful. I have recent reports about strange monsters wandering on the roads... Unknown monsters, even the monster specialists claimed they had never saw such creatures before; they weren't repertoried in any books, nor previous studies._"

"Yes."

"Flynn... Flynn told me something about that. He warned me before I left Zaphias..."

"Were you attacked?" Yuri asked her.

"No, fortunately. But..."

"Anyway, what it has to do with Yuri leaving alone?" Rita asked.

"Woah, Rita, you don't give up, huh?" Yuri hoped she would forget about him after hearing about yokais stuff, but apparently it wasn't the case.

"No. Because I won't forgive what you did. Judith told us those 'yokais' were after you. Is that right? Does that means you don't trust us?"

This time, Yuri didn't answered. He simply got up from the bed, slipped on his boots and walked toward the exit.

"Nah, not at all. I thought that maybe if I went to Dahngrest alone and warned everyone, I will have all the credits for myself." Yuri said before leaving.

"You..."

"Maybe because he doesn't want us to be dragged along with him and all his problems?" Judith suggested. "He doesn't want us to be hurt like he was."

"Yes, that must be it" Estelle confirmed. "After all... Yuri is not really good at expressing his feelings. By the way, Karol, did he just break one of your guild's law?"

"Hmmm... actually, we were the one who broke it. Even if Yuri didn't told us anything, he was in trouble, and we didn't helped him."

"You're right." Judith said.

"So... we are all going to be punished."

"And here he is..." Rita said, exasperated. "I really don't get you, you and your stupid guild laws..."

Suddenly, Raven emerged from his torpor.

"Hey, why don't ya' join them, sweet Rita? If ya' do, then ya' might get an idea of what a guild really is..."

"No way!"

Judith stepped forward.

"Hum... while we are talking here, Yuri will pass right under our nose..."

"Yes, yes you're right! I will think about that on our way to Zaphias. First, let's catch up with Yuri!" Karol rushed outside, followed by the others.

Hopefully, Yuri wasn't far away. Along with Repede, both of them were standing in front of the closed gate and its horde of knights guarding it.

"So? Have you figured out why they closed it?" Judith asked.

"Oh, it's you, guys."

He observed all the knights posted in front of the door.

"Apparently, they want to isolate Halure for investigation." He continued. "Even people in Zaphias saw this light."

"Well, well... what a mess." Raven said.

"You have anything to do with that, old man?" Yuri said to Raven, looking at him suspiciously.

"Whaddya mean?"

"I don't know... I saw a certain Schwann talking with knights after the festival..."

"Hum... sorry my boy, but I don't know what you're talking about."

Estelle cames toward the knights, attracting their attention.

"Hum... excuse me? Can you let us pass?"

It didn't took them long to recognize who she was as they immediately standed to attention.

"Prin... Princess Estellisse! What are you doing here?"

"Please!" Estelle said, accompanying her words with a deep bow. "I can't give you specific explanations, but we need to pass."

"I'm sorry, Princess, but orders imposed us to not let pass anyone, without exceptions. Not even you."

"But...!"

"Drop it, Estelle." Yuri said. He was right, Estelle had no choices but to give up. She apologized once again to the knights before joining her friends.

"So? What are we going to do?" Karol asked. "You know, this road is leading to Zaphias, but we don't need it to go to Dahngrest."

"Actually," Estelle said, "I want to go to the capital and tell Flynn about what happened..."

"Bad idea." Yuri suddenly replied. Judith, who immediately understood what he was implying with his sudden answer, entered the conversation.

"We can just say we were attacked by two stranges people during the festival. Just to show him what he will going to deal with."

"Oh, I understand what you mean... and to shut up on the fact that actually, they were after Yuri?" the mage said. "So Flynn won't worry about him?"

"Flynn? Worry about me? You're kidding! This guy has other things to care of rather than worry about a guy like me!"

"No, that's not true!" Estelle suddenly said. "He may be really busy with his new functions, but... everyday, he wonders how are you doing."

"Really, what a pain..."

"So," Karol interrupted them, "If Estelle wants to go to Zaphias, we have to go with her."

"Karol..." the princess said.

"Yes," Judith continued, "if we don't it should be against our laws."

"And here we go again. Guild laws." Rita said, shrugging her shoulders.

"So first Zaphias, then Dahngrest. Everybody is okay with that?"

"But!" Estelle shouted, joining her hands. "It's too dangerous! What if we are attacked, like in Halure? We don't know what they are able to do... Besides, only me and Raven still can use artes, right?"

"Hum... yes, you've got a point."

"In that case..." Judith raised her head and took a deep breath. "Bau'l!"

A strange sound coming from the skies, similar to a whale's song, reached the group's ears.

"What it is? Monsters?" one of the guards said.

"Wait, you don't possibly...?" Karol stammered.

"If on ground, we can't pass, then let's do it by the air! Bau'l is waiting for us on the road to Halure."

"Thanks Judy, that really saved us!" Yuri said to Judith, before rushing. "Come on, let's go!"

Knights were too confused to stop them, and on the way Karen said goodbye to then, while her brother was just looking at them with an air of indifference.

* * *

><p>As Judith said, Bau'l was peacefully waiting in the plains between Deidon Hold and Halure.<p>

Everybody quickly took place on the Entelexeia's back and, in a few seconds, they were flying over Deidon Hold. On ground, the knights was looking stupidly at Bau'l flying over them, gaping.

"Ha, look at their silly face!" Yuri said, his head bended on his head, looking at the panicked kinights. "Really, they don't change..."

As everybody was looking at the hold, happily laughing at the knights who were now running everywhere and trying desesperately to catch them, Estelle was looking around her, apparently searching something.

"… where is the Fierta?"

"It's under repair" Judith answered her. "Let's say that... our last job ended in an unexpected way..."

"What happened?"

"Hum..." The Krytian put her finger on her chin, trying to remember. "Because of a great misunderstood, the Fierta was attacked... Or, more precisely, Bau'l was the target."

"Bau'l?"

"There are still people who consider him as a monster," Yuri said, joining in the conversation.

"Yes," Judith continued, "Bau'l agreed to be a Brave Vesperia member and since then, he serves as the guild's main mean of transport. Our numerous travels had caused panic among people..."

Yuri finished "… so they paid guilds to wipe Bau'l out." Estelle shivered.

"That's horrible! Bau'l isn't bad!"

"Hum... he's really glad you think of him like that," Judith said after a few moment of silence. "But actually, we can't blame the inhabitants. They were simply scared because they constantly see a giant shadow flying over them... And if we add the recents attacks of yokais..."

"But... is there something we can do? I'm sure there's another way!"

"Well, you can't reason with people who were used to hate monsters since their childhood," the swordsman replied.

Estelle said nothing, her head bended. Bau'l howled.

"Bau'l said you shouldn't worry about him," Judith said, translating. "He really appreciate your concern for him. But he's a true Entelexeia, and cases like that don't frighten him. Maybe one day, humans will trust him. Not immediately, but progressively."

Estelle smiled, heartened by those words. "Yes, I hope you're right, Bau'l. If we work together, then maybe that day will come!"

* * *

><p>Higher in the skies, hidden between the coulds, a winged creature was secretly watching Bau'l. He spreaded his wings and rejoined his companions. There was a dozen of them, all identicals: crimson skin, a beady-eyed face with a long nose and wings made with black and sharp feathers. Their hands and feet were replaced by claws, and they were all wearing black ample clothes with pieces of armor covering their torso, legs and arms.<p>

The creature who had just came back, probably the scout, said to all his companions with a shrill voice, "They're down there. A bunch of humans and the Whale Entelexeia the boss told us about. Your orders, chief?"

"Attack!" said the biggest one, surely the captain of the squadron. "We need to bring back only the long-haired human."

"And the others?"

"Meal!" the chief simply responded.

"You're forgetting the Entelexeia..." an other said. "Maybe he already spotted us..."

"No need to worry! The Boss casted on us a spell, so he won't detect us. But the spell won't last very long, so we must hurry. Forward!"

The creatures let their shill scream out and responding to their chief's orders, swooped down on their target, piercing through the clouds.

Suddenly, a tornado of pink flowers surrounded them. In those conditions, they had no choice but to stop. Panicked and quite furious, they looked around to search for who it was coming from.

A few meters above them, a dark silhouette was standing on a bird made of flowers.

"Who... who are you?" the chief screamed, moving away the flowers surrounding him with his wings. "Wait... that smell... and those flowers... you are...!"

The dark silhouette didn't came close to them, but they could hear clearly her gentle woman voice. "Why are you doing this?", she asked them. "Tengus normally don't attack humans."

The chief looked at the woman. "None of your business." The fact that he couldn't even recognize her face made him more furious. "If we catch this human and bring him to our Boss, we will be awarded with eternal power, as he promised us! And with that, we can crush you, you stupid wolves!"

"This is really sad..." the woman claimed. "Your boss is just manipulating you. Eternal power doesn't exist."

"Shut up! Come on, attack her, soldiers!"

Responding to their boss call, the creatures free themselves from the flower cage and were now rushing toward the woman silhouette.

"I'm sorry" she whispered. "I didn't want that but... you don't give me the choice." She raised her right arm and a fan appeared in the palm of her hand. She directed the fan on her ennemies.

Flowers with sharp petals followed the movement of her hand and her fan. Carried by the wind, the flowers first crushed the creatures's wings into pieces. Now wingless, the demons fell one by one, and the woman finished them with an other flower tornado.

* * *

><p>"Bau'l said we'll soon arrive in Zaphias." Judith announced.<p>

"That was short!" Karol said, stretching his arms. "How many time do you think we can stay in the capital?"

"We must make sure that Estelle delivers her message properly," Yuri answered. "After that... I think I'm gonna pay a visit to Hanks and the others..."

Before he finished his sentence, Judith hurried to say "… and I think we are all going with you after that."

"Why?"

"So you won't escape again, of course." Rita said, like if it was an evidence for her. As she shrugged her shoulders, a delicate pink flower petal landed in the palm of her hand. She looked at it. "Huh? What is that?"

Karol pointed his finger in the sky. "Hey, over there!"

Hundreds, maybe thousands of flower petals were falling upon them, like snowflakes. One of them landed on Raven's nose, causing him to sneeze and to wake up. "Hmm? What's happenin'?"

"I didn't know that clouds can even make flowers falling!" Karol claimed, his head raised.

Rita nearly hit him. "Idiot! Clouds don't do that."

Estelle joined her hands, catching one of the petals. "But... where are they coming from?"

Yuri was looking silently at the flowers falling upon him. The color, the shape... no doubt about it, it was the same type of flower he saw in the warehouse, at Deidon Hold.

As for Judith, she was staring with nostalgy at the flowers. Bau'l got her out from her thoughts as he began to lose altitude. Zaphias was just in front of them.

Right after they landed in front of the city's entrance, Raven jumped from Bau'l back.

"Now, if you excuse me... I have stuff to take care of. See ya'!"

"Hey wait, old man!" Yuri said as he was helping Estelle to get down. "Ha... too late. He already left."

"Good riddance!" Rita said, leaving the Entelexeia's back too.

Karol and Judith were the last ones. "Don't worry..." the Krytian said. "He will come back when you thought you have forgot about him..." That caused Repede to whine.

After hearing Estelle's request, the knights who were keeping the castle's main entrance immediately opened the doors, allowing her and the group to enter.

"You are lucky," one of the knights said. "Commandant Scifo had just came back from his patrol. Right now, he is in his office."

"Thank you!" Estelle politely bowed before leaving with the others.

They crossed numerous hallways, gardens, with Estelle leading the way.

"You seem to know where you're going," Judith noticed. "You often pay Flynn a visit, right?"

"Yes, of course!"

"Oh. This is so romantic..."

"Ro... romantic?"

"Hey, Judy, you're confusing her now," Yuri said.

"Are you jealous?"

"Me? Not at all."

They finally reached Flynn's office, located in an quiet hallway and guarded by a few knights. Before she knocked at the door, she gave a look to Yuri who was the only standing away from the group, leaning against the wall.

"You're not coming?"

"Well, you're the one who have to deliver the message, right?"

Karol approached Yuri. "But you said we must make sure that Estelle properly does it... it's our job, we must do it until the end."

Yuri sighed. Right after that, the door opened, and Flynn appeared.

"Why, you don't want to see me?" the young knight said, smirking.

"Flynn!" Estelle claimed, her eyes sparkling.

"Lady Estellise," Flynn said, bowing politely before her, "it's a pleasure to meet you again. But you came back fast! How is the festival doing?"

"Hum... actually..."

Flynn noticed the sudden sad and worried expression appearing on her face.

"Come in my office," Flynn said, inviting her and the group to enter. "You too, Yuri."

"All right, all right..." Yuri replied, annoyed.

Flynn's office was both elegant and simple, a quite spaced room. On the left, a marble fireplace was occupying the middle of the wall, with the painting of a famous knight above. In front of the fireplace was placed the desk, a sturdy desk made with lacquered wood and collapsing under the numerous piles of papers and books. The chair accompanying the desk was made of the same material, covered with a red tissue. Finally, the room was well lightened because of the large windows covering entirely one of the wall, the light reflecting itself on the dark wooden floor. The walls, made of white stone, were covered with red tapestries.

Yuri whistled. "Wow... a king-like office... as expected from Commandant Flynn!"

Flynn stared at the office, embarassed. "Well... it was Commandant Alexei's office, so... I just inherited of it. Anyway... Lady Estellise, what is the problem?"

"Err... How can I say it..."

"I suppose you saw that light two days ago?"

"Yes... you too?"

Flynn nodded. "I just received a report this morning... and it said it was coming from Halure. Do you know what happened?"

"Hum... I'm sorry for the sudden question, but..." Estelle said, "do you remember when you warned me about mysterious monsters attacking travelers?"

"Yes, of course... why?"

"We might know who they are. Because during the first day of the festival, we were attacked by two strange people..."

"Yokais." Judith continued.

"Yo... kais?" Flynn asked, looking at Judith.

"We have come here to warn you about them," the krytian continued to explain. "Yokais are far stronger than normal monsters and, for most of them, more intelligent. During the attack in Halure, we were four people against two of them, yet they easily surpassed us."

"You... is that right, Yuri?"

"Well, she said that..." his friend simply replied.

Judith still continued her explanation. "There are several types of Yokais, each having its own characteristics, skills, strengths, and also weakness. Some of them can take human forms, leaving among humans without being noticed. We krytians possess the ability to detect them, but this power is limited and quite inefficient."

"So we're dealing with monsters of other level..." Flynn concluded, leaving his desk. "But, this is strange... even our best monster experts couldn't identifiate them, but you, Miss Judith, seem to know a lot about them."

"It is a part of our Krytian education."

"But apparently, they are really dangerous ennemies... so why the Krytians didn't told us anything about that?"

Judith suddenly got nervous. "Hum... Err..."

Yuri left the wall he was leaning against. "Anyway, we're going to fight annoying monsters and without bodhi blastia, it will be great fun!"

Flynn sighed. "It's hard to admit it, but Yuri is right. Thank you for all your precious informations. Now we have to think of a way to take care of that situation... Miss Judith, I might need your help once more in the future."

"Hum... yes, of course..."

Yuri was looking at Judith, noticing how much she was embarassed. She was like that since the attack in Halure...

After some more chatting, they finally left the office, and Flynn decided to accompagny them to the exit. The group was continuing on talking happily, with Karol relating Brave Vesperia's feats. After that, the conversation was turning around Rita and her new researches about developping a blastia that will use mana, then Estelle and her new life in Halure...

Yuri was following the group behind. With Repede on his heels, he wasn't taking part to the conversation, and instead was walking while being preoccupied.

When they crossed the door, they were welcomed by a warm sun, which was placed high in the sky. It was probably noon now. Flynn returned to the castle, saying he still have a lot of work but he will try to be free before they leave. As he past next to Yuri, the swordsman could hear: "Meet with me at the foutain tonight. We need to talk.". The doors closed behind Flynn, and Yuri sighed. That guy, really...

Now the group was standing before the stairs leading to the castle.

"And now?" Judith asked.

Karol put his hand on his chin. "Hum... now that we succesfully completed our job with Estelle, we can go to Dahngrest and inform the Union..."

"We don't have the Fierta with us, though... but Bau'l is okay to lead us there"

"We should make some provisions, just in case. So, we're leaving tomorrow... that left us the afternoon to rest and make our preparations. Is everybody okay with that?"

"No problem with me..." Yuri said.

"Just in case you forgot about me, I'm going back to Aspio. And I'm thinking about leaving right now."

"Why don't you wait tomorrow, Rita?" Karol asked, standing next to the mage. "Aspio is on our way, after all... What if you're attacked by those strange monsters? You can't use magic anymore, you know!"

"I can defend myself alone, thank you!"

"But..." Estelle began to say. Rita crossed her arms.

"Well, after all, I can tag along with you until we reach Aspio. Actually, I was thinking about getting to the castle's library... I might find some useful books for my researches."

"I'm coming with you!" Estelle happily said.

"Well, if you want..."

"I'm gonna see Hanks and the others," Yuri said. "And you?"

Karol said, with a big smile, that he's planning on going around the city and making provisions for the travel. Judith, who had remained silent during all this time, simply said she'll join Bau'l.

"Oh, by the way Estelle, will you go back to Halure after that?" Karol asked.

"Me? Hum... I... don't know... Maybe..."

"I see... Halure is on our way, so if you want you can leave with us tomorrow! Right, Yuri?"

"… yeah..." Yuri replied, absent-minded. But Karol didn't noticed it.

"So, let's all meet together tonight at the inn, okay?"

Judith kneeled next to Repede and pat his head. "Oh, Repede, make sure Yuri doesn't flee once again... I can count in you, right?"

Repede happily whined, making her understand he will do it without fail. Yuri sighed, annoyed.

* * *

><p>As he was walking along the streets, Repede faithfully following him, Yuri noticed how the people were so lively and cheerful, despite the conditions of this new life and bad news brought everyday. He left the Noble Quarter, crossed the Central Plaza and finally reached the Lower Quarter.<p>

The sight at the Lower Quarter, the smell, the people, made Yuri feel at home. The fountain wasn't working anymore; and to think it was the starting point of his adventure, a crazy journey to get back the aquae blastia in order to make that damn fountain work again... and it was now there, lifeless, without water, as if it was teasing him. Yuri sighed.

A market was taking place around the fountain. Jewels, baubles, fruits, vegetables... Here and there, the merchants were shouting at the top of their voice, trying to sell their merchandise.

Yuri was sure to find here the person he wanted to see. And he was right: standing before displays of construction tools, Hanks was negociating eagerly with the seller, a small and stocky man with a well-rounded stomach and a thin grey moustache.

Yuri got close. "Hey, old man, how're you doing?"

The seller and his customer stopped their conversation and turned their head to see who had just spoken. Hanks poutted after seeing Yuri, which quite startled him.

"What are you doing here?" Hanks said dryly.

"A little 'hello!' should have been really appreciated you know, old man..."

"Well, I didn't thought I would see you now. So? How are things going?"

"… things are going smooth recently. I'm just doing jobs here and there for the guild."

"Glad to hear that!" Hanks said, giving money to the seller. "So, I'm telling you once more: here is the price for the hammer. I can't afford more."

"Sorry mister," the merchant said, " but the price is the price."

"Listen, I really need this hammer, my roof is all pierced and broken, and the water is infiltrating through it. My wife is already ill because of it, so I must have this roof quickly fixed."

"You know, you're not the only one in trouble. Because of the recent attacks, I've lost half of my cargo. So I have to raise the prices in order to offset the losses."

Hanks sighed. Yuri standed before the seller.

"Oh, come on, you can't do that to your elders, right?"

"I'm sorry, but... wait... are you...?"

"Imagine you're in the same situation as he is," Yuri pursuied. "What will you do?"

The seller was strangely shaking. "Are you... Yuri Lowell?"

"Yeah, in the flesh."

"There... there is a warrant for you!" the seller cried, pointing a trembling finger at the swordman.

"Again?" Yuri said.

Hanks looked angrily at Yuri. "What the hell did you do this time?"

"I don't know!"

Yuri sighed heavily. Yokais, and now... a warrant on his head. Really, he was dogged by bad luck recently...

"In that case, let me give you this. In return, will you let alone this man and act as if you had never met him before?"

It was a woman who had just spoken. Her soft and gentle voice was resonating into Yuri's head. He looked around... and was surprised to see, standing next to him, a small-sized woman holding a leather and well-filled purse. She was wearing the cape of the Imperial Mages, the hood was pulled over her head, and her face was hidden behind a mask. Only long and black hair locks were beyond of the hood, lying on her chest.

During a few seconds, everyone remained silent, surprised by the sudden appearance of the masked woman. Her clothes and hair were floating, carried by the wind. She waved her arm, making the money inside the purse to clink. The sound produced made them come back to reality.

"Will you accept?" the woman insisted.

The seller hesitated and, cautiously, caught the purse. He checked inside and his face suddenly became pale like a white linen.

"This... this... this even more than the award of the warrant..."

Hanks nearly choked. "What?"

"You know how many they promised to give?" Yuri asked him.

"No, but if it's you, there is no doubt the award will be high. Very high."

The seller was now hefting the purse, as if the precious bag was just an illusion between his hands. "It's... it's real money..."

"Of course," the woman said. "I can't lure a merchant with false money, right? Now that you are sure I am not lying, can we settle our contract?"

"Yes... yes, of course! I will do everything you want!"

"Thank you very much! Now please forgot everything you just saw and continue your activities as before. And if you betray me, I will be forced to punish you. Severely."

She had said that very calmly, like a mother warning her child if he does something wrong. The seller eagerly nodded.

"It's very kind of you. Now, if you excuse me..." She politely bowed before the seller, then faced Yuri and Hanks. "Mister Yuri Lowell, isn't it?"

Yuri could now clearly see the woman's face... or rather, the mask she was wearing. A strange mask, certainly representing an animal (Yuri couldn't recognize what kind of animal) because of the ears and the long muzzle. The mask was white, the mouth and the ears of the animal were drawn in red.

"What is it?" the woman said, tilting her head.

"Huh? Oh no, nothing..."

"I would like to talk to you, but let's move to a quiet place." Then she looked in Hanks's direction. "You can come too if you want, mister. Please, follow me."

As she left in a very gracious walk, Hanks whispered in Yuri's ear. "Hum... my intuition is saying me there's something fishy about her..."

"Maybe, but... she saved me, after all."

However, he knew Hanks was right in a way. Repede, with his growl, was also thinking so. Nevertheless, they decided to follow her.

The masked woman crossed a small and empty street and lead them to a dead end, between two houses.

"It's more quiet, right?" She finally said, turning around.

"First, thanks." Yuri interrupted her. "You really saved me back then."

"Oh, it's nothing."

"Unfortunately, we don't have money to repay you..." Hanks said.

"Don't worry about that. I don't want money. But I want to talk with the young man here."

Yuri pointed out himself. "Me? That's why you lead us here. Well, now that I'm here in the flesh, what do you want from me?"

"You are from Brave Vesperia, if I'm not wrong. Actually, I would like you to escort me to the Yumanju Onsen."

"Yumanju? Wait, what was it already?..."

"The Hot Springs of Yumanju, if you prefer."

"Hot Springs... oh yeah, I remember! That shady and expensive place... Why?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you. Not now."

Hanks was completely lost. "Yumanju? What is that?"

"A place I discovered while I was on travel..." Yuri explained to him. "They've got hot springs for relaxing... We went there with the others."

"Really? Maybe I'll got pay a visit then..."

"Bad idea. It's really expensive, ya' know. 300 000 galds."

"What? But you said you went there!... Wait a minute... Where did you found 300 000 galds?"

Yuri swallowed. Whoops, he should have shut up instead!

Still standing before them, the woman was patiently waiting, hands joined. Her little laugh however made them remember she was there.

"So, you want us as bodyguards, right? Huh... okay, I'll take it. There shouldn't be any problems... "

The woman bowed. "Thank you. Now, I'm leaving my destiny between your hands."

"Hum... no need to exagerate..."

"My name is Eolie."

"Well, nice to meet you, Eolie. I'm Yuri Lowell... though you already know that."

"I'm Hanks. I know that boy since he was a kid. I hope it won't be a burden for you!"

"Don't worry about that..."

The end of her sentence was deadened by cries of fear and panic, also step noises. Hanks left a few seconds the dead end and gave a quick look at the street. "Hum... looks like something's happening..."

Yuri and Eolie joined him. The street, who was empty a few moments ago, was now litteraly invaded by panicked and crying people. Despite the ruckus caused, Yuri managed to ask what was happening, hoping someone would mind answer to him. However, no one did. Everyone was running here and there and didn't paid attention to Yuri's question. Actually, he wasn't even sure somebody heard him.

However, he could clearly hear the words "Monsters!", "Wings!" and "Long nose!" raising from the crowd.

"Sounds like the city is attacked," Yuri claimed. He left the small dead end and shouted: "I'm going to check. Hanks, stay with our client and let's all meet at the inn when it will be over!"

"Don't do anything reckless!" Hanks said, but Yuri had disappeared into the crowd. As Hanks was trying to find Yuri into this mess, he didn't noticed that Eolie quietly left him, fitting in with the crowd too.

Yuri was now rushing along the streets, followed by Repede. He was next to the inn when he saw _them._ A flock of winged creatures, flying above the fountain, with the shadow of their wide-spreaded wings planing over the people and the streets. Their long nose, their crimson skin, their pierçing eyes and their black feathered wings, everything was supposing they weren't normal monsters.

The largest creature, certainly the leader, raised his fist.

"Let's get revenge for our comrades! Capture immediately the boy! Its name is Yuri Lowell. He is in this city. Do everything you can to get him out from his hidden place!"

"Maybe we can use his friends as a lure, boss..."

Hidden behind the inn's wall, Yuri frowned. They were there for him... and apparently they were ready to do anything to get him. He must take care of them before anyone is injured...

"Yuri!" That was Karol's voice. Yuri turned his head, seeing the young boy running in his way. "This is terrible..."

"No, Karol, don't come this way!"

The leader of the flock also turned his head into the direction where Yuri was hidden. He smirked.

"Oho, nice timing!"

In a blink of eye, the creature was next to Yuri.

"Dammit!"

"We're lucky today!" the creature said, looking greedily at Yuri. "Our prey brought to us on a silver platter!"

The others came behind him and, all together, they started a piercing and nasal laugh. Yuri regained his self-confidence and drew his sword in the way he usually do, throwing away the sheath. Repede growled, ready to fight.

"Ooh... you want to fight, young human?"

Yuri smiled. "I want to see what is it, to fight against the likes of you."

"You better have to follow us quietly, young human. The Boss wants you in one piece."

"I'm afraid I'm not the kind of guy who follow strangers like a good kid."

The creature moved forward. He didn't expect his prey to be so stubborn and hot-headed.

"Oh, trying to resist? Not bad, for a human. Then let's try this..." He gave one of his subordinates a nod, who instaneously disappeared. Yuri barely had the time to understand what was happening when...

"AAH! Yuri!"

Yuri spinned round. The subordinate was now tightly holding Karol, his sharp claws threatening the young boy's throat.

"Karol!"

"Now, I repeat what I said: You better have to follow us quietly, young man. Or this yummy young child will serve as our lunch today."

"Bastards..." Yuri muttered.

"Photon!"

The blast of light, exploding in the middle of the flock, made the creatures to disperse and left them half-bind. Yuri took advantage of the situation. After a few strides, he placed himself behind Karol and the creature. He slashed its back, making it crying and dropping Karol. As the creature flew away, writhing in pain, Karol felt heavily on his kneels, on the ground.

"Aaaahh!"

"Karol, you okay?"

Karol managed to get up. "Yeah, hum... I'm fine... thanks..."

The devil leader shook his head, recovering his mind. He and the others eagerly looked around them to see who had cast the spell. "Who did that?"

"I won't let you hurt my friends!"

Estelle was standing at the top of the slope, her sword in one hand, and holding thightly a shield in the other.

"Estelle!"

"A human girl? So it's you? But I thought humans can't use magic anymore... Or... are you the so-called Child of the Full Moon?"

One of the creatures warned the leader. "Be careful boss, she's specialized in healing spells..."

The ex-princess was slightly destabilized. Those creatures know about the Child of the Full Moon? They found out about her so easily!

That instant of hesitation was enough for the creatures to rapidly overcome her. In a fraction of a second, the sword and the shield weren't anymore in her hands, and one of the monster was holding her with its powerful arms.

"Humans don't scare us, right? Look, she's all shaking and panicked, it will be a piece of cake... and we can also use her to lure the boy, boss!"

Yuri frowned. He was expecting that, using her as a decoy to destabilize him. He reminded the last time they were confronted to Yokais, in Halure... the perspective of seeing her getting controlled once again made him chill.

"Like the hell I'm gonna let you do this... Azure Edge!" The sword cut through the air, but... nothing happened. It just created a wind blast... making the leader creature laugh.

"Muah ha ha! How pitiful! This is all you can do?"

"Dammit..." Yuri muttered, stepping forward. "Without bodhi blastia, it will be hard to fight those bastards..."

Yuri was thinking of a new strategy when he heard Estelle squeaking. The creature who was holding her was slowly strangling the poor princess, its claws surrounding her neck.

The leader was now in front of Yuri, floating in the air, giving him a haughty glance. "Come with us... or she will die.. my subordinate will be very pleased to tear her delicate neck to shreds..."

Yuri tried to contain his fury. Fight with anger, and will be nothing but only advantages to the ennemy. There was something first he wanted to ask, something that was obsessing him since his first encounter with Yokais in Halure...

"Why... do you want me?"

"Oh, curious huh? But... you human doesn't deserve to know the reason. You just have to follow us like a good boy."

"Sorry, but I can't join your way of thinking."

"Then, that's simple: she will die. After, the young boy will follow."

Estelle cried, louder than before.

"Humans are so strange! They are ready to kill their own friends to save their life!"

"Argh... boss! The girl!"

Repede, who managed to stay quiet during all this time, was now bitting into the creature's neck, in order to save Estelle. The monster let Estelle and engaged an enraged battle with the dog.

"Nice, Repede..."

Yuri felt the anger inside him, running through all his body and making his blood rushing. An overwhelming power seize him, something he had never felt before... He looked furiously at the leader.

"… and you are ready to use coward ways to get what you want? You're kidding! Fight me instead! AZURE EDGE!"

* * *

><p>... come to think of it, that one was really hard to write.<p>

I'm not sure about the price for Yumanju, but... I remember it was really expensive.

Okay, now I have to get to work for chapter 6! Though I can't say when it will be posted. Not this week, I think...


	6. The adventure begins

Your favorite french writer (or not...) is back!

But first, let's make some advertising...

**French readers (if I have french readers...), do you love ToV? Do you love Okami (and Okamiden too)? Then... this story is made for you! Written by the skilled and talentful Peachounette78, an AU fanfiction with an unusual romance between a goddess and a simple human, ... Featuring ToV characters, maybe some Okami characters... Already two chapters!**

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**Chers lecteurs français (si y'en qui lisent cette histoire :s), êtes-vous fans de ToV? Etes-vous fans de Okami? Alors cette histoire est faite pour vous! Ecrite par la grande et talentueuse Peachounette78 (lecteurs: un peu mégalo celle-là...), c'est l'histoire romantique d'une déesse et d'un simple humain, mettant en scène quelques personnages de ToV et de Okami... Déjà 2 chapitres postés!**

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**(if you can't get to the adress then don't worry, you'll find it on my profile)  
><strong>

In short... PLEASE my fellow compatriots... or those who can read french... (and for those who don't if you have french friends then DON'T HESITATE)... COME READ! *prostate herself*

Ahem. Now let's get serious.

* * *

><p><strong>06. The adventure begins<strong>

"AZURE EDGE!"

He swung his sword, executing the arte as he was always used to do. And to his great surprise, a blue wave of aer appeared from the blade and hit the Leader creature in the chest.

Losing his balance, the creature was thrown on his subordinates like a bowling ball. All of them hit hardly the wall of the house just behind them, making it to collapse.

Yuri managed to calm himself and realized what had just happened. This time, his arte worked.

He looked at his sword, trying to figure out how he succeed in executing his trademark arte. Numerous questions were now bumping into his mind, and a moan of pain coming from the rubbles get him out from his thoughts.

A few creatures barely came out from the rubbles, moving away the rocks of the wall standing formely there. The Leader was still alive too; he furiously got out, screaming in anger and frustation. His clothes were covered in dust and his wings, once impressive and frightening, were now missing a few feathers.

"How dare you? I'm gonna crush you..."

Yuri stepped back. Now was not the time trying to understand how he managed to do Azure Edge. Estelle was still in their grip, and the creature was now really angry. And there was also Karol to protect...

"Yuri..." the swordman heard behind him, confirming that Karol was still there and alive. "What happened...?"

"No time to think about that," Yuri interrupted, "we need to save Estelle from them. And that won't be very easy, I think I made them really mad..."

The swordsman stared carefully at his opponent, as he was nervously freeing himself from the rubbles. They were aerial and fast attackers, so Karol's heavy attacks won't work against them. Chaining combos of attacks and artes would be the best solution, and not giving the opponent the time to counter-attack...

_The wings._

Yuri wondered why he hadn't thought about that before. Those creatures seemed to count heavily on their wings. So if he manages to make them useless, the rest will be easy. Then Karol and Repede can finish them off.

Without thinking, Yuri rushed on his opponent, sword ready. He easily dodged all the furious attack of the winged creature; in an instant, he was already behind. He climbed on the wall's remnants, using it as a ladder: the wings were now easy to reach for him. He took his momentum and jump, and before the creature could realize the plan he had in head, her wings were already falling, properly separated from the back. Jets of blood spilled, and the leader felt heavily on the ground under the eyes of his subordinates, crying in pain.

"Karol!" Yuri shouted, after he landed on his feet, "it's up to you know!"

"Hum... hum..." the boy was shaking, holding tightly his hammer. He was looking at Repede finishing the leader with its dagger and its claws.

"Hey boss, I can't do it without you!" The swordsman was now heading toward the imprisonned Estelle and her confused jailer. By killing the boss, Yuri knew he could destabilize the others – at least for a while – and use this moment to save Estelle.

A new power was spreading through his body. The same when he used Azure Edge. He didn't know what was it, but for now, it was allowing him to move around easily and faster. He turned around the subordinate and, once behind, made a quarter of a pirouette and slashed, first the left wing. He continued with a second attack in diagonal, ripping the remaining wing. The creature screamed in pain, instinctively let Estelle go, and felt back. Estelle felt on her kneels, panting.

"Estelle, you okay?"

"Yes... I'm fine..."

Behind them, the creature was writhing in pain. Yuri was right after all; their wings seem to be vital for them. After a few minutes, the creature stopped moving. Yuri helped Estelle to get up, both witnessing at the scene happening in front of them.

The remaining creatures were now surrounded by tornados of bright-colored flowers. The sharp petals were ripping and plucking their wings. The wind was so strong that Estelle, Yuri and Karol were forced to kneel and to protect themselves with their arms. Repede had digged his own claws into the ground and, growling furiously, was facing courageously the wind.

The flower attack ended as fast as it began. It finished with a strong gust of wind and, when everything came back to normal, the creatures had vanished. Only flowers, black feathers, pieces of ripped clothes and blood tides were lying on the dusted ground.

It took Estelle and Karol a long moment to get their spirit back.

"What... what was that?" Estelle said, cleaning her clothes from the dirt and dust, while Karol was looking stupidly at the place, now transformed into a field of ruin.

"I... don't know..." Yuri whispered. He was sincere. What was the strange power that animated his body just a while ago? He had never fought like that before. And he was also able to do an Arte without a bodhi blastia...

But thinking too much about that made his head hurt. Tiredness was now slowly paralyzing his body, as if the fight had drained all his energy from him.

He heard Estelle's distant voice ringing behind him. "Yuri, are you all right?"

He shaked his head, as it wasn't the time for him to collapse here, right in the middle of this mess.

"Yeah, I'm okay..."

He heard someone running behind him. It was Hanks, running with difficulty because of his age. He stopped next to Yuri, bent forward and put his hands on his kneels, panting.

"Hey, Yuri!... Everything okay?"

"Hanks!"

"Well, I saw monsters with wings coming over there..." Hanks's eyes settled on Yuri's sword. "I see you fought them..."

"Yeah, but everything is over now."

"… you made quite a mess."

"Do you really think I'm the one who blasted that wall? And by the way, where is the customer?"

"Oh, that!" Hanks shouted. "Well, she disappeared right after you left. I looked for her everywhere! She's nowhere to be seen!"

Yuri sighed. "Maybe she's at the inn..."

"Hope you're right... But first, let's clean all this mess! I'm gonna get some help..."

Yuri stayed silent as Hanks left the place. He knelt down and picked up one of the flowers. The delicate flower felt so fragile and soft in the palm of his hand, and he decided to put it on his pocket... for further investigation.

Yuri, along with Karol and Repede, helped the people in repairing and cleaning the Lower Quarter. Just by looking at the great damages caused by the creatures, Yuri realized those monsters were really something. As for Estelle, she went around the city healing injured people, even if Yuri and Karol eagerly disapproved her actions, knowing it will be bad for her health. But of course she insisted, and Yuri knows perfectly well there is no point in trying to change her mind, so the only thing they could do was to tell her not to overdo it.

At nightfall, they finally decided to go back to the inn and meet with everyone as planned. But when they entered in the building, nobody was there yet.

Especially Eolie. Hanks and the others searched for her, but the old man then claimed she was nowhere to be seen, so Yuri thought she might be at the inn...; which wasn't obviously the case. While Karol took a seat, he even asked the innkeeper, but she said nobody corresponding to the description he gave her came here.

Great, he didn't even began to work and it was already a mess...

"Yuri, were are you going?"

"Gonna get some fresh air... I'll stay around, don't worry." Yes, here is his usual excuse, he thought. Actually, he was just going to search for Eolie, and he was hoping it won't take him all the night...

Even Repede prefered to let him alone and stayed asleep under the table.

Once he reached the lifeless fountain, Yuri let out a heavy sigh and raised his head, letting his eyes wandering between the brilliant stars and the black color of the night.

For the first time, he felt himself completely lost, facing a situation even him couldn't handle. A lot of things happened in such a short time, and a lot of questions was filling his mind. He thought he will leave a peaceful life of jobs and guild matters after the Adephagos incident, but Fate decided otherwise. The swordsman remained the old times with the knights chasing him back before the Aquae blastia incident; it was only for "minor" crimes he committed for helping the Lower Quarter. But now, inhuman ruffians are hunting him down for whatever reason.

Worse than Zagi. At least, with that psychopath, Yuri knew it was only to kill him because he was apparently the only one who managed to hurt that hot-headed guy back in Zaphias. But now... Yuri had absolutely no idea about why the creatures wanted him so badly.

What worries him so much is that they apparently want him _alive_. And they are ready to do anything to obtain what they want. Like they did with Estelle and Karol...

"I knew I could find you here."

"Got a night permission, Commandant?"

"Well, kind of. But I can't stay longer, so I'll get directly to the point."

Yuri finally left the beauty and the mystery of the skies and, with a smirk, turned over to look at his friend. He was already used to see Flynn with his new Commandant uniform: a cape with red tones colours with a sturd armor made of shining silver.

Everybody in the city said he was looking like the former Commandant Alexei... but right now Yuri, while staring at his friend, could only disagree with that. Flynn wasn't like Alexei. Absolutely not.

"So? What do you want?"

"Are you okay?"

Yuri was destabilized by this sudden question. "Huh? I'm perfectly okay. Those creatures gave us a hard time though."

"Yes, I imagine it. Me and my troops were having difficulties in driving them back. I'm glad you made it out without a scratch, but it's not what I'm talking about. I mean, you were acting strangely this morning."

"Really? Must have been your imagination then."

Flynn smiled. "Always avoiding the question, don't you? No, seriously Yuri, you're my best friend, and I think I know you better than anyone."

Yuri didn't replied and instead prefered to remained silent, allowing his friend to continue.

"You can tell me everything, you know..."

"… thanks for worrying about me, but there's nothing. Really."

"Is it related to the creatures who attacked us today?"

The swordsman was startled and gave at Flynn a surprised look mixed with horror, which Flynn didn't missed. He wasn't expecting that.

"Ah, looks like I found out."

"Mind your business, commandant..." Yuri finally left the side of the fountain and walked toward the street. Flynn was really skilled at seeing through him, and that makes him really pissed off.

"Yuri, you shouldn't keep everything for yourself. As your friend, it's my role to help you if you have troubles!"

Yuri was standing in the middle of street, meditating his words. "My friend, huh... This is also why it's better for you not to know..." he whispered for himself.

"You said something?"

"Hum? Oh no, nothing. Besides that, you have something else to say?"

He heard Flynn sigh behind him.

"Hum, you're really stubborned, as expected from you. So let's try that."

This time, Yuri turned and faced his friend, giving him a curious look. He wanted further explanations.

"Actually, I found out this when we were fighting against those monsters. They were apparently searching for something..."

Yuri was now surprised. Oh dammit, he immediately thought...

"… so me and my men managed to catch one of them with a giant cage. It wasn't easy, if you ask, that creature was keeping on fidgeting. Most of my men were injured. We managed to keep it locked during a few minutes on the cage... and guess what he said?"

"No," Yuri simply replied, but fearing the worst.

"It said it must catch, at any cost, a long and black haired human."

"So... you think it's me?"

"Probably."

"Hey, you know, I'm not the only one with long hair... It only said human, so it might be a woman as well."

"That's why I asked it to give us more informations... well, I tried, because this is precisely when he managed to escape."

"Ah. Maybe you'll get more lucky next time."

"Yuri, this is serious! I immediately thought about you... and my fears were confirmed. One of the Lower Quarter people saw you attacked by an entire flock of them."

"Dammit..." Yuri whispered, lowering his head so Flynn won't see his face. Of course, why he hadn't thought about that earlier... they were attacked right in the middle of the Lower Quarter. There was every chance that a lost citizen saw them.

"So I was right, after all. But why?..."

"Don't ask me," Yuri said coldly, leaving the place. "I don't know either."

Flynn took a few steps closer to his friend. "Were you attacked like that before? Hey, Yuri, don't leave like that! Tell me!"

Yuri stopped a last time. "The conversation is over. Just... just promise me one thing."

"What?"

"Stay out of it."

"Yuri..."

"If you don't, you'll certainly end up hurt."

And, without further explanations, he left a a confused Flynn.

~.o.O.o.~

When Yuri came back to the inn, his researches was revealed to be totally fruitless, it was almost empty. Without a word, he leaned against a wall and let his mind wandering in his thoughts. Of course he wanted his friend's support, but... who knows what those monsters are able of. Using Estelle was already something, but they can also be able of killing if they want. That's something Yuri wished to avoid...

"Oh, I finally found you!"

Yuri immediately recognized the voice. A gentle, sweet and quiet tone... A quick look at the newcomer confirmed it. Eolie the masked woman was now standing at the door and seemed reluctant to enter or not.

"Wow, you really took your time to come here. What happened?" Yuri said sarcastically, without leaving his wall.

"I am deeply sorry," Eolie replied quietly, bowing, "but see, me and your friend were separated right after you left. Some of the people here allowed me to hide in their house and, when the situation came back to normal, I helped them in cleaning and repairing. They thanked me by driving me to the inn. Please, forgive me if my sudden disappearance caused you troubles..."

"No need to worry. At least you made it out without a scratch."

"Hum, Yuri... who is she? You know her?"

"Ah, yeah," Yuri said, finally leaving the wall and walking toward Eolie, "you haven't met her before, Karol. Here is my new customer. Her name's Eolie. Right?"

Eolie simply nodded.

"Wow, you have a new job, Yuri?"

"Yep, just some escorting, as usual."

Karol gave Eolie a confident look. "You're in good hands, Miss! Yuri is the best of our guild. He helped us in defeating the Adephagos!"

"Of course. This is why I asked him. Oh, and you must be the young leader of this guild, correct?"

"Yeah! I'm Karol Capel."

"Nice to meet you," Eolie greeted him with... a bow, again.

"You really like to bend your back, do you?" Yuri noticed. "I think you'll get along very well with a certain princess..."

"Yes?"

"Nah, never mind, forget it."

Repede finally decided to leave the table where he was sleeping under and greeted the newcomer by sniffing the bottom of her dress. Eolie immediately noticed it and bend her back so she can reach the dog's muzzle with her hand.

Much to Yuri's surprise, Repede didn't turned away his head immediately, as he always does when strangers try to pet him; instead he timidly sniffed the thin and delicate fingers of the woman, and finally let her scratch his head behind his ears, closing his eyes as a sign of satisfaction.

"Wow, that's impressive..."

"Oh, why?"

"Repede don't get along easily with strangers."

"Estelle will be really angry if she sees that..." Karol said. Yuri was thinking the same way, and was perfectly imagining the scene. While looking at Eolie, he wondered how long will she stay at the door without getting in...

"Hey, get in, or you'll catch a cold... though, with your clothes, the risk is low..."

"Hum? Oh yes, you're right..."

She finished scratching Repede's head and stepped inside, Karol leading her to the nearest table. After that, he gave Yuri a worried look.

"The others are late..."

Yuri placed his hand on his hip. "Yeah... maybe I should go and check on them. You guys stay here and wait, okay?"

Karol was thinking for a few moments, then contested. "No, I will go instead!"

"You sure about that?"

"Yeah! I'm the boss after all, so I should be one ensuring the security of all the members! You stay here with Miss Eolie, it's your job after all!"

"Okay then. Don't get lost."

Karol thumbed up to Yuri before rushing out of the inn.

"It's a real energetic young leader you have there." Eolie noticed while looking at Yuri.

"Yeah," Yuri said, lolling on a chair facing her, "but he's a good one."

"If you say so, I trust you. After all, your guild is well known for being the savior of this world."

"Huh... looks like Karol was a bit too overjoyed while spreading that..."

"He's young, it's normal he's acting like that."

"Yeah..."

They then remained silent for a few minutes. Yuri crossed his arms and his legs, letting his mind deeping again in his thoughts. Now that he's alone with Eolie (and also Repede sleeping under the table), he was wondering if he had made the right choice by accepting the woman's request. First of all, the others simply won't let him work alone, given the dangerous situation he's in. Allowing them to come with him is also dangerous, as who knows what those wrecked monsters are able of (thinking about what they did to Estelle – twice, moreover – was enough to makes him shiver), and going alone with Eolie wasn't a good idea too as she might getting hurt...

"Ya' know... maybe we should reconsider things about the job."

"Mmh? Why so?"

"I mean, you should go and ask someone else to do it."

Eolie stared at him but, because of the mask, Yuri couldn't tell how her face was looking like.

"In your opinion, why did I went through all the trouble in order to find you? You know, the people here helped me in confirming the opinion I have from you: a skilled warrior striving for justice and who can't ignore those in need."

"Huh? Who tell you that?"

"I met again with your old friend before coming here. He told me this: I did right in calling for you. And your young boss said that too, right? They trust you. So I trust you too."

Yuri facepalmed. That was quick, she defeated him with only a few words. Now there's no way he could deceive her. "Okay, okay, you got me... we're leaving tomorrow morning, is that okay for you?"

Eolie happily nodded. "Yes, of course, Mister Yuri Lowell..."

"Hey, quit the honorofics already! I'm not a noble, you know. Just call me Yuri."

After another couple of minutes, Karol finally came back with everybody. Judith, Estelle and Rita seemed to be fine, much to Yuri's relief. Estelle immediately excuse herself and explained to him the reasons of their late: the creatures had caused damages far more important than they thought, as a lot of people were injured, and even at this time of the night they are still people missing. She also explained that people who had lost their house will be staying at the inn and the castle. Judith then continued the explanations, saying that Bau'L was injured during the fight and forced to leave for a quiet place in order to heal his wounds. As for Rita, she was simply standing next to them, arms crossed, confirming with a nod or interrupting her friends by giving much detailed explanations.

"So for the moment, we're in a complicated situation...", Karol said. "Bau'L left, we don't have the Fierta... travel will be hard..."

"Oh, don't worry, Bau'L is strong, he will come back to us quickly." Judith reassured him. "For now, we must concentrate on how to get to Aspio first."

"Ah yeah, that's right, we must accompany Rita... and Yuri has his new job too!"

"Huh?" Rita said, giving him an odd look. "What do you mean?"

Eolie got up from her chair and greeted them with her usual bowing. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't introduced myself. I am Eolie, and I asked this young man to help me."

Rita was the first to react. It was apparently only now that she noticed the masked woman. She stared at her with her eyes widely opened under the effect of surprise.

"Hey, wait a minute... Are you...? Hum... no, actually no. The mask isn't the same."

"What is it?"

"Do you happen," Rita asked, nearly bending over Eolie, "by any chance, to know a certain Mystery Waterflow?"

"No... why?"

Rita straightened and crossed her arms again. "Hum... no never mind. It's just... she was wearing the same kind of mask."

"Oh, you are talking about Mystery?" Judith asked.

Yuri looked at them, confused by this odd conversation. "Hum... mind to explain to us what are you talking about?"

"Oh yes Yuri, you haven't met her," the Krytian said. "We were talking about Mystery Waterflow, Estelle's assistant during the festival. As Rita said, she was wearing a similar mask. But..."

"It's definitely not her," the young mage concluded. "They haven't got the same voice."

"Yeah, and I confirm it, she's really kind!" Karol nearly shouted. "But the one we met at Halure was really scary..."

Yuri sighed. Trying to understand what they're saying will just give him another headache, so he decided to change the subject. "So boss, what's the plan?"

"Hum... as Judy said, we must first concentrate on getting to Aspio. Let's say how our travel will turn, as we won't simply fight with monsters, but also with... yokais. Maybe we'll find all sorts of yokais on our way, it might be a good chance for us to get used to them..."

"Yokais?" Eolie asked.

"This is the name of the monsters who attacked us today." Judith explained. "I have a limited knowledge about them though..."

"It doesn't matter Judy, I'm sure it will be of a great help for us. Ah, and one more thing."

Everybody remained silent, waiting for him to continue.

"Come to think of it, I don't think we can let Yuri do this job alone. I mean... under normal circumstances it would have been okay, but now..."

Yuri straightened on his chair. "Huh?"

"I agree with you," Judith immediately said. "I think we should join too."

"Ah, I swear... I'm not in this guild, but oh well... I don't mind giving a little hand."

"Guys..."

"So, Miss Eolie, are you okay with that?"

"Of course, leader of Brave Vesperia. If it can help Yuri, then do it. I have to get to Yumanju quickly, but I don't mind waiting a little more if you have things you have to intend to.

"This is really kind of you." Judith said with a voice full of gratitude.

"So first destination, Aspio! We're leaving tomorrow morning, everyone!"

~.o.O.o.~

Yuri didn't know which hour of the night it was, but he was sure it was very late. After climbing up the stairs, he was ready to go back to his room when a familiar voice stopped him.

"Hum, Yuri? Can I talk with you?"

"What is it, Estelle?"

The young princess was a bit out of breath. She had certainly climbed up the stairs running in order to catch with him.

"You... you're leaving tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah, it's the young boss's decision. And you? What will you do?"

"I... hum..."

She lowered her head. That's right, Yuri thought, her only goal was to go quickly to Zaphias in order to warn Flynn.

"Will you go back to Halure?"

"That's what I thought first. But..."

She was hesitant. Yuri was used to it, and he patiently waited for her to continue.

"You know, about what happened this morning... with the creatures... I thought about it during all the day and... I think I will come and help you."

"You're not obliged to."

"No, I have to. As a guild member."

"Huh... what?"

At first, Yuri thought his ears were playing him a trick. He gave to Estelle an odd look mixing surprise and fear together.

"A guild member...?"

"I... asked Karol to join the guild, after the incident of this morning..."

Yuri regained his composure and gently smiled to her. "Well, welcome to Brave Vesperia."

"It's not official..."

"But is it really okay for you? I mean, you're still a princess. I don't think the Council will appreciate it."

"Yes, I'm aware of that. But you know, I'm worry about you, Yuri. So I don't care what the Council may think of that, I joined the guild because I want to help you. I will repay you for everything you've done for me. Let me join you for the job!"

Yuri stared at her, quite surprised by her words. He was right: she had really changed. At the first time they met in the Imperial Castle, she would have been totally undecided. But right now, she had made this choice on her own, without hesitating, and she was even standing again the Council itself.

"Huh... well, even if I say I absolutely don't want you to come, you won't listen to me, right?"

Estelle was standing in front of him with eyes full of determination, which was enough as an answer. She won't give up. Yuri heavily sighed before smiling again to her.

"Okay, do as you want. But I'll be frank: this time will be different. I don't know what's waiting for us and how the travel will turn. I'm not even sure I can guarantee your safety."

"No, you won't have to do it. I'll do everything I can so you won't have to worry about me."

"Well then... what a stubborn princess we have there... anyway, you should go and have some sleep. Tomorrow will be a tough day."

"Yes!"

After that, they each say good night to the other, before leaving each other.

~.o.O.o.~

Yuri had slept for only a few hours, but when he finally opened his eyes, he was feeling like he hadn't slept at all. Staying here and sleep a little more was really tempting, but he just couldn't afford to be late and make little Karol worry about him. He woke up from his bed with difficulty. He was ready to wake Repede, who was lying on the sofa, but the dog had already sensed his movements. The dog sat up and, in a jump, landed softly on the floor and got to his master. The swordsman greet him with a pat in the head, took his sheathed sword leaning against the wall and together they left the room in silence.

As he came down by the downstairs, Yuri could see that he was the last one and that everybody was actually waiting for him.

"Yuri, you're late!" Karol moaned, looking angrily at him.

"Oh sorry, boss. I did my best in waking up earlier you know."

As expected, everyone was there: Karol, who was rather nervous, Judith and her legendary composure, Estelle and her bright smile, Rita with her gloomy face... and Eolie still with her mask and heavy cloak despite the heat. Besides, Yuri was wondering if she sleeps with her mask even the night...

"Is everybody ready?" Karol asked.

Everyone claimed a determinated "Yes!" at the same time (although for Repede it was rather a determinated "Woof!"). This is it, a new journey was about to begin, with its lots of monsters, mysteries, adventures and... yokais.

As they crossed the city in order to reach the road leading to Deidon Hold...

"Yuri, wait!"

Ah. Of course he had forgotten about _him_. Estelle's shout confirmed the identity of the newcomer. "Flynn!"

The group came to an halt, allowing Flynn to catch up with them. Yuri noticed he wasn't alone and sighed when he recognized the second person who was accompanying him: Sodia, Flynn's right-hand woman... what, she's still there? She gave him an odd look, as usual, yet less distrutful than before.

"I see everybody is fine. You didn't had trouble yesterday, didn't you?"

"You mean the attack?" Estelle asked.

"Yes. None of you have been hurt, right?"

Yuri was half-listening, as he knows they'll only talk about yesterday's events. Right now, only yokais were filling his mind. A lot of questions came to him: what exactly happened at Halure, why do they want him, how did he managed to use artes, and what's the link with the flower still in his pocket? Yuri knew he had to clear this mess quickly, but there are too much mysteries in this story to take care of. So proceeding little by little was the best option he could foresee.

And logically, the first mystery he had to shed light on, was why the yokais want him so badly... They even threatened his own friends for that.

They will meet yokais on their way, Yuri was sure of that... and it will be the occasion for him to make a little interrogatory...

"Okay then, I won't keep you any longer. I'm also planning on leaving tonight and investigate Halure, so we might be able to meet again. Please, take care."

While saying those last words, Flynn was obviously looking at Yuri who simply shrugged his shoulders.

"Thank you, Flynn. Please take care of yourself too." Estelle said.

Walking to Deidon Hold will take them a few hours and, as Karol planned, they should be there at nightfall if no problems occur on the road. A ride with Bau'l should have taken of course much less time, but they don't have the choice now. Karol was leading the party while Yuri and Repede were covering their back. Estelle and Rita were chatting with Eolie about Estelle's first job inside the guild, and Judith was staying away from the party, lost in her thoughts... or rather communicating with Bau'l maybe.

They were now walking for more than two hours, and still no major problems – excluding some usual fights with the local monsters – and, most importantly, no signs of yokais. Yuri found that rather weird and worrying at the same time. He came closer to Judith, thinking she might get an idea.

"Hey, is it me or they didn't showed up? I don't think the usual monsters we fought were disguised yokais..."

"Mmh... then maybe they're planning something big behind the scenes."

"Like what, you think?"

"Sincerely, I don't know... maybe they are waiting for us to be off-guards and take the opportunity to attack us. Yokais love to attack by surprise people in a state of weakness."

"That's... creepy."

Judith nodded. "We're all together. We should be fine, don't worry..."

"Guys... guys! Look at that!"

Alerted by the frightened tone in Karol's voice, Judith and Yuri had to stop their conversation and followed the young boy's finger... He was pointing, before them, a black and purple mass, staining the immaculated blue sky.

"Wha... what is this?" Estelle asked.

"Something bad..." Judith said. "I've got the intuition we have to avoid this thing..."

"But," Estelle continued, "Deidon Hold is right away... Maybe people are in danger!"

"I know how you feel, but..."

"Maybe we should go and see what's happening," Eolie suggested calmly. "If it's really dangerous, then we can turn back and see if we can pass through the Quoi Woods."

"Oh, that's right, there is also a way through the Quoi Woods..." Yuri said. "But what you've suggested will make us lost precious time... I mean, are you okay with that?"

"Avoiding danger as much as possible is worth loosing some time."

"Huh... you've got a point there. So, boss, what's the plan?" Yuri asked impatiently.

"Hum... let's first head to Deidon Hold as planned. We'll see after that."

They all nodded silently and resumed the travel. It was no different from before: they occasionnaly met with common monsters, but still no signs of exotic yokais. Judith might be right after all: they were up to something, observing them in the shadows. There's no way they could forget about Yuri like that if they want him so badly!

The last fight before they reached Deidon Hold took them longer than usual. A whole bunch of hungry wolves. The problem weren't their strentgh, even Yuri could easily handle them while keeping an eye on Eolie who, for each battle, was quietly standing back from the party. No, the problem was just the considerable amount of beasts; once Yuri thought they had beaten all of them, a new herd just popped out from nowhere and attacked them at once, not giving them the time to take a break. Without bodhi blastia it was quite difficult. Plus Yuri had no idea about how he managed to use his artes in Zaphias, so while trying to reproduce them now, it didn't worked of course and he only earned some odd looks from the others...

This is why, on the last miles, Yuri was only thinking of a good bed. He supposed the others was thinking the same way, as nobody talked for the rest of the travel. But once they reached their destination...

"So... this is the black mass we saw this morning?" Estelle said, raising her head.

"Oh, you gotta kiddin' me...", Yuri said, not believing what's happening in front of him.

They couldn't recognize the place at all. The entire hold was covered by a black-purplish thick smoke, but the most strange was certainly that the smoke seemed to be confined in the hold itself, as if limitated by invisible walls.

"I've never seen something like that," Rita claimed. "Do you think it's related to Yokais?"

"Might be." Yuri said with disdain. "So? What should we do?"

"Maybe we should ask them. We're not the only ones here apparently." Judith noticed.

She was right. In front of them was a military camp with white tents and some knights to guard it. She approached a knight who was apparently keeping the camp's main entrance.

"Excuse me, we are travelers," Judith said to them, and Yuri saw she wasn't hesitating in using her charming smile and manners to do so. "Do you know what happened here?"

The magic of her charm was quite effective, as he immediately replied to her with a stammering voice. "Hum... I'm... I'm sorry, young miss, but we don't know either what happened here. Our squad has been sent here for the security of the civilians but, when we arrived, that smoke appeared from nowhere... some of us managed to escape, but there are still people trapped inside..."

"So why are you stayin' there? Why don't you go and save them?" Yuri asked as he stepped forward, placing himself next to Judith.

"Actually..."

"… we already did it. We sent some of our men, but they never returned."

"Ca... Captain Ludiart!"

The knight immediately standed at attention as a tall man past next to him. He was walking with grace and elegance, his feet barely trampling the ground, with the knight cape and his long chocolate-coloured hair floating behind and around him. If Yuri had seen him from afar, he could have easily mistaken him for a woman because of his frailed-looking body and his tall and slender legs.

The knight was standing in front of them, his grey eyes shaped like almonds staring gently at them. Thanks to the armor he was wearing, Yuri could clearly say he was the captain of the squad.

"May I help you?", he asked with his suave voice.

"Sorry for the trouble," Yuri replied, "but we need to get through the hold. Can you let us pass?"

"Well, you can pass, but... Do you wish on having the same fate as the men I sent there?"

Yuri said nothing. Even from there, the air was heavy and sick, maybe caused by that black smoke. What the hell was that thing?

"You said your men never returned?" Estelle asked, worried.

The man opened his eyes wide, surprised. "You..." He seemed to have recognized Estelle, but stopped his sentence and instead replied politely to her question. "Yes, it is correct, young lady. We sent them yesterday morning... not even one came back. We tried to come back into the hold, but the gate is now locked. However, during the night, we can hear strange sounds, and even screams."

"Ss... huh... strange... sounds?" Rita stammered in horror. "No... no way... maybe it's the people trapped inside?"

"I don't think so... the sounds were everything but human."

Rita shivered, horrified. Yuri get closer to the gate, but Ludiart was right, it was tightly closed.

"So, what should we do?" Yuri asked once again to the others as he came back, not paying attention to Rita's apparent fear.

"We still can take the road by the Quoi Woods," Judith replied, "but it's already night."

"But he said there are people still trapped inside!" Estelle claimed.

"You're right, but I don't know what we can do..."

"Sorry to disappoint you," the man interrupted, "but I already thought about the possibility to passing through the Quoi Woods... and we met the same problem."

"You mean... the smoke?"

"Absolutely, charming lady."

"Oh no, what should we do then?" Karol said, panicked.

"Let's rest first." Yuri suggested. "'cause one thing for sure: It sounds we're sticked there."

"If I remember correctly, we still have a spare tent... if you want it, I don't mind" the man said.

"No... no way I'm staying here!" Rita said, her legs shaking and her arms surrounded around her.

Yuri smirked and speaked to the man. "Okay, we'll accept. Thank you."

"What the...? Yuri!"

"Well, it's that or you'll go back alone."

Rita poutted, saying nothing.

The man, who introduced himself as the Captain Georges Ludiart, show them their tent. The tent was small (well, they were seven altogether, but Repede didn't minded sleeping outside), the interior wasn't really comfortable with what is strictly necessary, but Yuri really didn't mind, it's just a military tent for sleeping. As everybody settled itself for the night, while Judith and Estelle were taking care of the dinner, Karol took advantage of the situation to set up a little impromptu meeting.

"Hey, everybody, what do you think of that?"

"Of what?" Yuri asked as he didn't understood immediately what Karol was meaning.

"That smoke... we can't pass through Deidon Hold nor the Quoi Woods."

"If it's the yokais... It's like they wanted to lock us and prevent us from moving," Judith tried to explain, "so they can attack us at night."

"Yeah, you're probably right..." Yuri said, agreeing with her. "So that's why we haven't seen them during all day."

"Hum... actually, I heard something about that... a yokai who can create demonic smoke. But I don't remember its name."

Everybody remained silent, unhappy with the few information they have about the situation.

"First, let's have some rest." Yuri said as he tried to ensconce himself in his chair. Actually, there were only four beds in the tent, so Judith and Yuri decided to let them to Eolie, Estelle, Karol and Rita.

~.o.O.o.~

Yuri wasn't really sleeping, so he was startled when he heard a strange sound coming from outside. It was faint but, because of the camp being so silent, he could clearly hear it.

And he wasn't the only one. He saw, in what seems to be Rita's bed, a small shadow straightening all of a sudden. The young mage wasn't sleeping at all, certainly still marked by the captain's words.

"You heard that too, Rita?"

"Yu... Yuri? What was that?"

"Dunno..."

A second sound, louder this time, reached their ears.

"Oh no, no, no, I don't like this..."

Other sounds came up, louder and louder. Alerted, Yuri left his chair and grabbed his sword. The others woke up one by one.

"What is that?" said a confused and still sleeping Judith.

"Is... is this the sounds... the captain was talking about?" Karol stammered with a shaking voice.

Repede was barking loudly and aggressively outside. Something dangerous was happening there. Yuri rushed out of the tent and noticed the usual blue colour of the night sky had turned to a black-purplish colour.

"Huh?"

"It seems the smoke is spreading..." Judith said as she left the tent, soon followed by the others. "… and... the gate is opened?"

Yuri came closer to the gate and saw Judith was right. The gate was now widely opened, from which massive quantities of smoke was escaping. Still, the smoke was so thick so it was impossible to distinguish something inside the hold.

The knights were running through all the place in panick while Ludiart, standing in the middle of this mess, was shouting orders and making wide movements with his arms. So none of them seemed to notice the gate opened.

Suddenly, an ethereal sound came up from the smoke.

"Come in, young human. I was waiting for you."

* * *

><p>Pheww... okay, this one is done.<p>

Reviews, reviews!


	7. The long haired woman

Here it is! Chapter 07! Sorry for the wait, but Perfect World had taken me away... once again...

**Elizabeth the Bathog: **He he, I'm doing my best! Though writing in english takes me more time... you should have seen me while writing my chapter! Every minute I was using my dictionnary even for basic words!

**EDIT: **added some corrections. Thanks Mizu Hoseki! If you see other mistakes, then don't hesitate!

Enjoy!**  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>07. The long-haired woman<strong>

The campement became suddenly silent after hearing the vaporous voice. The knights, the party and even Captain Ludiart, everyone came to a standstill.

Judith was paralyzed. The voice wasn't human, she can feel that, and it spoke with a blood-frozing tone. Her entire body started to shake... how could that voice have such tremendous effets on her? Plus, the smoke was keeping on spreading through the campement, getting strangely thicker and thicker, and now she could no longer see the others.

However, she regained her composure when she noticed Yuri silently heading toward the door, following the voice. She remembered the voice said something like "Come, young human"... So it was really a yokai after all, and it was waiting for them. No, waiting for Yuri.

Judith frowned. It was obviously a trap, yet Yuri was keeping on going.

Suddenly, he rushed inside the hold, followed by Repede. Captain Ludiart noticed him and followed him with his eyes, without leaving the place where he was standing. "Young man, you shouldn't go there! It may be a trap!". But in vain, Yuri had already disappeared into the smoke.

"Yuri, don't do anything reckless..." Judith whispered for herself... when someone – or something – bumped into her.

"Oooh! Hey, get out of my way"

"Rita?"

"Huh... Judith? Where have you been? Where are the others?"

"I don't know..."

She was staring at the door when suddenly, with noises of turning cogwheels, the door started to lower. It was closing... so the yokai's goal was to attract Yuri inside. Judith could perfectly understand his reasons for getting into the lion's den despite being completely aware of the danger, but she also know very well that yokais are not well known for their abilities of negotiation.

Without further hesitation, she caught Rita's wrist and rushed toward the door.

"Hey... hey! Where are you going like that?"

"Let's pay this smoking yokai a little visit."

"Whaaat? No... no way I'm coming with you! Let me go!"

~.o.O.o.~

The hold was plunged into a deep and opressing silence, compared to the noisy camp just before. The smoke was so thick that Yuri couldn't see anything in front of him, besides Repede's nose seemed to be completely useless. So the only thing they could do was to keep on walking.

Yuri was wondering where that thing could be hiding. Looking around him, he was searching for clues or any signs that could help him. But still nothing.

"Hey!" Yuri started to shout, now on the nerves. "It's not correct to make the guests waiting!"

"Woof!" Repede barked.

No answers.

"Huh, he was the one who called me in, and now he doesn't show up. Really clever. Let's keep on movin' then, Repede."

"Woof!"

But still, after some minutes of walking, nothing special happened. This time Yuri stopped, truly annoyed. That yokai is playing with him or what? Should he head back?

"Still nothing, Repede?"

The dog simply whined then continued with a series of barks, meaning clearly that the smoke was interfering with his sense of smell so they can't count on it. However, Repede implied he can still use his ears.

"Well, it's better than nothing. Damn, they really love to play on people's nerves..."

Repede suddenly barked agressively. Something was coming in their way. Yuri and the dog came to a standstill, prepared for all contengencies. Yuri also pricked up his ears and, after some minutes of pure silence, a volutuous and languorous voice raised from the dark.

"Oooh, my! Look at that, what a beautiful young man..."

The voice was coming from the right. Yuri quickly turned his head to see it...

But nothing.

"Oh no, what's with that contemptuous face?"

What, now on the left? Keeping calm, he made his head pivot on the other side... only for his eyes to stare at nothing but the smoke.

"You should be honoured you didn't get sick by the demonic smoke."

Behind...? "Hey! Stop that and show up!"

He barely said that, when a woman appeared from nowhere just in front of him. Automatically, Yuri jumped backward.

It was a woman endowed with a strange beauty. Ghostly-looking, accentuated by her deathly pale skin and the smoke surrounding her, she had really long black and silky-looking hair who were practically reaching the ground, hazelnut eyes shaped like almonds ornating a round shaped face with blushing cheeks. She was dressed in a very elegant way, wearing a long green dress with ample sleeves with a large crimson belt tied around her waist. The dress was so long that it was even hiding her feet, creating a long trail of green tissue behind her.

Yuri tried to not be bluffed by her beauty and frowned. Repede's growl confirmed him that even the dog was finding her suspicious.

"Are you... the one who caused all of that?"

"Me? Are you kidding? My refined taste just won't allow me to create such a disgusting smoke! But... I have to admit it's really useful for capturing my preys..."

Yuri stepped backward, still very suspicious toward her. He was ready to draw his sword at anytime, as she got closer to him. After some reflexion, maybe she was right. Her voice was different from the one he heard before getting in. That means there might be more than one yokai here...

"Oh no, you shouldn't look at a woman with such defiant eyes! But I'll overlook that... if you accept on spending the night with me."

"Huh? Sorry, but I'm not fond of spending time with perfect strangers. I have better things to deal with."

The woman immobilized herself, now staring at Yuri with bulging eyes. "How dare you...? Are you making laugh of me?" As she said that, her already long black hair lenghtened more, like animated by an evil force.

Wow, she's getting furious very easily, Yuri thought, as her hair were now floating around her like threatening tentacles ready to attack. Apparently, she was expecting him to be afraid, not indifferent and provocative toward her. Without forgotting the reason he came here in the first place, the young warrior draw his sword and threw away the sheath. He and Repede were now ready for the battle.

The anger had distorted her face. She wasn't anymore the beautiful and delicate woman, but now a blood-thirsted creature with long canines and sprawling hair dressed with a green dress. She was the first to engage to battle by throwing several locks on her opponent, forcing him to jump backward to dodge the attack. As a result, her locks sent at high speed sank themselves in the dust ground, making her more and more furious that she missed her target.

As the battle goes on, Yuri first noticed that she was simply attacking aimlessly, much more under the effect of angry, but her attacks were so fast that it didn't gave him, nor Repede, the time to counter-attack. So, for the first part of the battle, they were only forced to dodge her furious attacks. But after several minutes, things started to get more complicated.

She sent a last hairy tidal wave. Yuri was concentrated, getting ready to dodge it as usual. But when he finally understood it was just a decoy, it was already too late. Others locks of hairs coming from behind caught his arms and legs, immobilizing him. Another one took the sword out off his hand so he won't be able to use it anymore.

He heard Repede barking aggressively next to him. The dog was also caught in the process. He was debatting furiously but in vain, the hair tightly surrounding him. So after all, her goal wasn't to impale him; but rather make him tired, so it will be easier for her to catch him off-guards. Well thought for an enraged creature.

"I've caught you, little grasshopper," she whispered as she got closer to Yuri while tightening her grip on him. "Now, what should I do with you? I have to deliver you to him, but... I don't think he'll get mad at me if I eat a little part of you... just a little..."

"Eat... me?" Yuri said, somewhat horrified. Oh right, Judith once mentionned they love human flesh, right? "Huh, sorry to disappoint you, I'm afraid I taste terrible."

The creature tightened her grip and one of her hair curled around his neck. Yuri suffocated a bit.

"A really playful and brave human you are... Then, what shall I eat? One of your arm? Or leg? Or... oh! I have an idea! I can also use your hair... I don't think he will mind..."

"Who the hell... is that "he"..." Yuri managed to say, now hardly breathing.

"Oh right, you want to know?" the creature replied in a mockering tone. "Sorry cutie. Business secret. And anyway, for what they planned for you, it's not necessary for you to know."

"Well, I... I think I deserve the right to know why crazy "fans" are after me...", Yuri said, the sound of his voice slowly decreasing. He tried once again to struggle against the hairy ties who were keeping him prisonner, but it was hopeless. He felt his conscious slowly fainting... next to him, Repede was furiously struggling... Will his life be ended like that?

A pink glow drew his attention. It was coming somewhere from the bottom. Yuri opened his eyes and looked in the direction of the light... in the same time he saw that the creature had stopped herself and was also looking, horrified, at the glow.

Yuri didn't know why, but he perceived a familiar and gentle feeling coming from the light. He was surprised to see his pocket glowing... or the thing inside the pocket? Yes, now he remember... The petal he had kept hidden in his pocket since he left from Zaphias...

The petal floated until it reached Yuri's head, its glowing piercing the thick cloud of smoke.

The creature screamed in horror. "Impossible... how?... My... my powers... are fading..."

Yuri felt the grip around his neck and his body was weakening. The hair were "disintegrating" themselves. Now free, Yuri managed to land on his feet, getting his breath back.

Above them, the petal was still floating and glowing. The female creature covered her face with her arms, protecting herself from the growing light. Yuri didn't hesitated more. Hopefully his sword was lying on the ground not so far from him, so he quickly retrieved it. He reached the desorientated creature in a few strides and slashed her. She toppled backward, her chest now ornated with a bloody and deep cut. The blood was tainting her clothes, the deep red stain already covering her entire chest, her belt and her sleeves as she placed, in desbelief, her arms upon her wound.

"Curse... curse you!" She uttered before disappearing into the curls of smoke.

Yuri stayed vigilant though, in the case she'll attack once again, but after some minutes, seeing she wasn't coming back, he lowered his sword. Repede came to his side apparently in good condition, much to Yuri's relief. He patted his head.

"Wow... what a crazy meeting... but honestly, it didn't get us anywhere..."

The only clue he had was the word "he" she was constantly refering to. He wanted to ask her more, but she disappeared in a blink of eye. However, the smoke didn't vanished at all, still thick and black as ever. As she said, she may not be the responsible, something more important might be hidden between this... maybe related to whoever was that "he"? But it was too early to conclude that.

Behind them, the petal glowed more, drawing again their attention. While staring at it, Yuri couldn't help but think he was saved by a_ simple flower petal_. Yes, it was hard to believe such a little petal had enough power to terrify an opponent even him had trouble to deal with.

Suddenly, the petal began to move away from them. Repede barked and followed it, inviting Yuri to do so with a look.

"Oh, you want me to follow it? Well, if you say so... Maybe it'll lead us to the serious thing..."

It wasn't the case however. Yuri and Repede followed it without taking their eyes from it, as it's the only thing they can count on... for the moment. But when the petal finally stopped to move and disappeared in the smoke, Yuri noticed they were back at the campement.

"Huh? We're back..."

"Yuri, are you okay?"

Estelle and Karo were running toward them, their face tensed with worry and fear. Behind them, Eolie was simply following them. Apparently they have been waiting for him in front of the door for all this time.

"Everyone..."

Karol stamped furiously. "You did it again, Yuri! You left without telling us!"

"Huh? I thought you were following me. Sorry."

He looked around him. Something was missing...

"And... where are Judith and our genius mage?"

Estelle and Karol looked at each other, and Estelle decided to speak. "Actually... we don't know either. We thought they were with you..."

"Well, it wasn't the case. 'Haven't seen them."

"Then..."

Eolie speaked. "Maybe they went into the hold searching for you."

Yuri felt a knot in his stomach. If they actually did that...

"Let's search around the campement. Maybe they're not far..." he finally asked, hoping he was right.

Estelle shook her head. "No, we... we searched everywhere but we haven't found them..."

The swordsman facepalmed. That's done it. But come to think of it, here is another chance for him to get some more information from the yokais...

"Okay, I'm gonna give it a check. You two stay here."

"No, let us come with you!"

"I would like to say "yes" to you, Estelle, but who will take care of our customer?"

"Hum..."

Estelle said no more, her expression telling him that she knew he was right.

"Do what you have to do, Yuri." Eolie finally said. "After all, I have those two to protect me. But one condition: be fast."

~.o.O.o.~

When Judith woke up, her mind was still muddled. She decided to keep her eyes closed, recovering little by little her senses. First, a fusty smell informed her she wasn't outside anymore. A room? A cave? She finally opened her eyes in order to confirm it, and only saw darkness surounding her. As her eyes slowly get used to the dark, she finally noticed some wood boxes against the wall, broken windows covered with dusty curtains and... strange figures, some lying on the ground, others... suspended in the air with hair?

Her memories came back to her. She was attacked. The attack was so surprising, everything happened in a split second, but she had the time to distinguish her attacker: a long-haired woman.

Judith was now completely used to the darkness, and she could easily say the strange figures were actually human bodies, tied and bound. She decided to come help them... but she couldn't move at all. She was tied herself, and her wrists were burning in pain. How long has she been there? She couldn't tell at all.

A light black-purple smoke was filling the air... that means she's still in Deidon Hold.

She suddenly remembered Rita was with her too. As her, the young mage was surprised by the attack and was too stunned to actually counter-attack, but Judith fainted before she could know what happened to her friend. She quickly looked around her once again, but she couldn't clearly recognize the faces of the bodies lying around. So for the moment, the only thing she could do was to hope she was alright...

A creaking door informed her that someone came into the room. As if she was aware one of her prisonners was awaken, the ghostly woman stepped in and, without hesitation, she walked toward Judith.

"You have _his_ smell... you're one of his friends, right?"

"_His_?" Judith asked, confused.

"I'll use you and the other miserable shrimp to get him..."

"Hey! Who are you calling miserable shrimp?"

"Rita!"

Judith sighed in relief. Rita was alright and, as she heard clearly her voice, she could even say she was next to her. The Krytian looked on her right side, seeing the young mage furiously struggling against her ties made of hair.

"I'll make him pay for what he did..." the woman uttered, ignoring completely Rita. "You two, just stay here quietly. I'm warning you: you can't escape from here. My hairs are imbued with strong magic, and if you try to free yourself, they'll just tighten more and more."

Judging by the cold tone of her voice, Judith knew she wasn't lying. She had already heard of that mythological creature when she was younger: if memory serves right, they were called Harionago, or Barbed Woman, and are well known for their long hair with hooks at their end, much like a fishing hook. They like to seduce men and then attack them. She had only saw it in a book once, but the fact that creature was using her hair as a weapon caught all her attention. This is why she remembered very well.

"My... my beautiful hair were... damaged...", the woman stammered under the influence of anger, "and I'm... I'm left with an horrible scar for the... for the rest of my life..."

Then, laughing nervously, the harionago left the room, walking while balancing herself from left to right.

"What's with her? I was panicked when I first saw her... I thought it was a ghost!" Rita claimed, now looking curiously at the door the woman went through.

The krytian hesitated in telling her. Of course Rita should know, but... if she talks too much, the consequences would be desastrous...

"This...," Judith said, watching carefully her words. "This is a Harionago, a female yokai using her hair as a weapon."

The mage looked at the hair surrounding the room, as well the ties around her ankles. "Well, I figured it out."

"Their hair contains a magic allowing them to make them grow, as long as they want. They usually seduce men with their beauty and... once their victims fall under their spell, they kill them."

"Men? So why did she captured us?"

"I don't know..."

Rita groaned. "Aaah, what a mess!"

"Calm down, Rita."

"Why should I calm down? You were the one who brought me here in the first place!"

Judith lowered her head. "Yes, you're right... I'm sorry. But are you all right?"

Rita sighed. "Yeah, somehow..."

The silence settled. Both of them were thinking about their situation. Rita was the first to break the silence.

"Anyway, we need to get rid of that. You know how?"

Judith froze. Of course she knew how. Ten years later, she learned the spell to undo the magic keepen in the hair. But right now, she doesn't have the necessary equipment to do it...

As if responding to her worries, flowers came into the room, passing under the closed door. The glowing surrounding them were so bright, Judith and Rita had to close their eyes.

A few seconds later, Judith came back to reality as she fell really hard on the dust ground. The hairs were now scattered everywhere and were progressively loosing all of their vitality. The other people were free too, but were still lying on the ground inconscious. Judith looked at the petals. The same petals as the ones they saw falling upon them when they came back to Zaphias. So _she _was with them since all this time...

"Saved by flowers? What a joke...", Rita said while she was removing the dust from her clothes.

Judith ignored Rita's comment, as two petals landed in her hands. She closed her eyes and clenched the small floral pieces in her hand. "Thank you...", she whispered for herself.

~.o.O.o.~

"So, Repede? No signs of them"

Repede whined.

"Oh, I see. Men, where did those two go?"

It has been a few minutes they were walking and fortunately, no unpleasant meetings, but unfortunately... the smoke was still so thick and Judy and Rita were nowhere.

He was just hoping they hadn't met with that crazy long-haired creature... the serious wound he had inflicted to her should have been enough to force her to beat a retreat. But she can come back at anytime, threatening with her tentacular hair.

"Hum... I wonder if one day I'll end up like her..."

Repede gave him an inquisitive look.

"That monster... hey actually, it could be funny if I can do something like that with my hair!"

The dog whined and shook his head in an exasperated way.

"There you are..."

Yuri and Repede both stopped walking. That voice, once voluptous and gentle, now trembling in anger... finally, she had came back. She appeared before them like she did in their previous encounter, but now her eyes were burning with anger. Ah, she was really, really furious, Yuri thought...

She pointed her finger on her chest. Her wound wasn't bleeding anymore, but the stain was still visible on her dress. Yuri could easily see the long reddish line traced on her pale skin. He stayed calm.

"I see, you came back for revenge? Then bring it!" As he claimed that, he drew his sword while Repede was already ready for the battle, dagger in mouth. No place for mistakes now, he was hardly believing a flower will come again and save him...

"I will pierce your body and riddle it with holes!"

"Really? Very charming... By the way, didn't you said you have to deliver me to a certain someone? I don't think he'll be very happy to receive his package with holes."

The creature seemed to came back to reason, as she was more calm and less furious. For a moment, Yuri even thought she was sad. But it didn't last long, as she suddenly get furious once again... maybe even more than before.

"Stop making laugh of me! You will see what is it to hurt a lady like me!"

Her hair grew fast, but this time their end bent, forming a sharp hook. Once her "weapon" settled, she didn't hesitated in lauching her attack.

Yuri let out a "Tch!". It will be difficult to have to rational conversation with her... for now, the only solution was to fight her. He jumped backward, avoiding the bunch of crazy hair who sanked with a crash in the ground. As he landed a few inches away, the crazy creature was having difficulties to free her hair from the ground, so Yuri used that moment to slash them with a clean and precise cut.

Cutting her hair was apparently an easy way to startle her, even for a short time, Yuri noticed. He gave to Repede a quick look and the dog replied by a nod, meaning he had understood what Yuri was trying to say. Looks in battle are very important, especially for them, since it allow them to understand each other and to plan secretly a strategy against their opponent.

The creature was stunned, horrified after seeing her hair cut. She let out an inhuman scream and charged once again. Her movements were now totally random, making the battle more difficult.

"Luna Fang!"

Yuri had just managed to cut some more hair when he saw a familiar figure jumping over them and giving a kick to the creature's head, destabilizing her. Then Judith landed graciously before Yuri and Repede, receiving a happy bark from the dog.

"Judy!"

The krytian briefly winked to them before facing the creature who was recovering from the kick. "Looks like you forgot about us! We were supposed to act as baits, so we came here to see what happened! We were worried about you!"

"Like the hell I was worried about that weirdo!"

Yuri recognized the voice. "What? Rita too?"

The mage was standing a bit further, out of the reach of the tentacular hair. Her arms crossed, she was stamping nervously her foot on the ground. "You're a pain, you know that, Yuri Lowell?"

"Why? What did I do this time?"

"We don't have time for explanations." Judith said quickly. "Here she comes."

The swordsman sided with her. "You know what is it?"

"Later. We need to exorcise her."

"Exorcise?"

"Yes. Her hair are the source of her powers but also the source of her life: the more you cut, the more you'll weak her. She's already weakened because of her wound, so it should be easy. Once we immobilize her..."

"Okay, I think I got it. You and Repede distract her, I'll do the cut. And Rita, stay out of it."

"Well, actually I don't really know what I can do in that kind of situation..."

Without further hesitation, he finally rushed, sword in hand, while Judith and Repede tackled to their task. With a series of aerial artes and a spear coming from wherever-she-found-it, the krytian was skillfully destabilizing the creature, not giving her any single chance to counter-attack.

Everything was going as they planned, the creature showing signs of weakeness. Her attacks were less frequents and less powerful. Even Rita could keep away the hair from her simply by hitting with her book... but...

Judith too was showing signs of weakeness with all the jumps she had done. Yuri didn't really knew what happened, but in an instant the krytian was suspended in the air, hair surrounding her whole body. Yuri stopped his attacks to look at her.

"Judy!"

"Maybe... if I suck your energy... I'll regain my powers..."

"Huh?"

Judith screamed in pain. Too stunned to move, Yuri saw Repede rushing and bitting the creature's calf. Wincing, she litterally wiped away the dog with her hair.

"This is going too far..."

Still distracted by the pain of her leg, it was a good opportunity for Yuri to slash her for good. One, two, three strides, ending with a furious cut in diagonal. Blood spitted from the second wound, now forming a cross with the first. It seems this fatal strike were enough to drain the rest of her energy, as she let Judith and fell on the background without even a scream of pain.

Now was his chance.

He slowly walked toward the body and pointed his sword on her neck while he looked at her with threatening eyes. She was still alive, but not for long.

"So now, would you mind telling me why all of you are after me? To the point of hurting my own friends?"

The creature ignored his question. Instead, brilliant tears appears in her eyes, which surprised Yuri. Yokais can... cry?

"_He... _hetold me that... that if I bring you to him safe and sound, I would be free... and he will love me...", she whispered.

"Who is it? Tell me!"

The creature kept on ignoring his question and smirked. "Now, if I want to survive... the only thing left for me is to eat you, human!"

Her face deformed itself: her mouth opened, showing white and sharp tooth with a tongue ridiculously long. Now she was totally monstrous. Her remaining hair caught tightly Yuri's arms.

"Hey, what the...?"

Judith placed a petal on the creature's forehead, surprising both her and Yuri. Then she placed her hand in front of her chest with the forefinger and the middle finger raised, the others folded, and finally closed her eyes.

"Purification!"

The petal glowed, then followed by a burst of light; the pale skin burned, as if the body was consumed by an invisible fire. Screaming in pain, the creature slowly disappeared until nothing remains, not even ashes.

Yuri was now staring at the place were the creature was lying just before. Then he looked curiously at Judith. Rita caught up with them, running, and was also curious about what Judith just did.

"What was that?"

"… Exorcism. Now we're sure she won't come back."

Yuri put his sword in its sheath. "In the end, she didn't talked. They're really stubborn..."

"Well, at least you know she was acting for someone..."

"Yeah, but who?"

Rita crossed her arms. "For the moment, it's too early to conclude something. By the way..." She looked around her. "The smoke is still there. That means there's at least one weirdo left."

Yuri nodded. "Yeah, I know. Anyway, what are you doing here, both of you?"

"Yeah, I wonder myself... Judith here just decided to drag me here without saying me anything."

Judith smiled. "Well, I thought it might be fun..."

"This is no fun." Yuri said coldly. "You also said you were supposed to act as baits... what does that means?"

The krytian loosed her smile, surprised by Yuri's serious tone. Rita talked instead.

"She attacked us and locked us in the room with other people. She said she'll use us to lure someone... we managed to get free thanks to magical petals."

Judith continued. "All the missing people were trapped with us. We helped them, and then after some reflexions, we concluded the person she was searching for was you, Yuri."

"Then you know the rest."

Yuri sighed. "I see... you two seem to be alright... by the way Judy, how did you know how to use the petal?"

"Hum? Oh... err... Someone taught it to me..."

Why was she getting so nervous all of a sudden? Whatever she did, it really helped them. But by acting like that, she was certainly hiding something she didn't want Rita nor him to know. She had been like that since Halure incident. He was about to tell her that when...

"That Harionago, she failed miserably. I suppose I don't have the choice then..."

Yuri and the others came to a standstill.

"That voice..." Judith started to say.

"Yeah, the same who called me. Guys, here is the serious one... Alright then."

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><p>Chapter 08 should be out before the end of the week... I think...<p> 


	8. Red Tongue

*cries loudly* AARGH! HAVE TO GO BACK TO THE UNIVERSITY TODAY! NAAAAH, I DON'T WANNA GO! PLEASE I WANT MORE HOLYDAYS! *snif*

**Elizabeth the Bathog: **Yeeeah, I love cliffhangers... it gives more suspense to the story. And... wow! Even Swedish people reads my story? Cool!

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><p><strong>08. Red-Tongue<strong>

Estelle, Karol and Eolie didn't left once the tent since Yuri and Repede went back to the hold. Besides, poor Karol had finally became sick. Bad fever, shakings, tiredness... Hopefully Eolie quickly took care of him before he collapsed on the ground. She had placed a wet towel on his forehead to cool down the fever, as Estelle's healing artes was revealed to be not very efficient... Strange.

Eolie was certainly the first person who wasn't impressed by Estelle's healing powers. She just watched her cast her spells and, seeing it didn't worked, simply tried to comfort Estelle and suggested that maybe the smoke was interfering with her powers.

Estelle was really hoping she was right. Sitting next to Eolie and watching over the sleeping Karol, the young girl was nervously clenching her fists. Why does it have to happen? Poor Karol... he's still a child, so he's more sensible to those kind of things...

And why Yuri? Why do they all want him so badly? Yuri has already his own problems to deal with, he didn't need that... and why they haven't met yokais before? Now they are everywhere, like the usual monsters...

Eolie took gently her hands, surprising Estelle. With the red striped mask covering her face, Estelle couldn't tell what kind of expression she had, but... she was exuding a pleasant and comforting feeling that immediately made the princess smile.

"See? Smiling suits you more than worrying."

"… Thank you."

Eolie nodded, accepting her thanks, and refreshed once again the towel with cold water before placing it on the boy's forehead. Eolie was really a nice person, Estelle thought, almost like a mother figure. She was wondering why their customer was hiding herself with a cloak and a mask... it would have been nice to see her face...

When Eolie finished, the princess felt a light breeze on her face. Someone had opened the tent's entrance. Estelle raised her head and recognized the long brown-haired captain.

"Sir... Ludiart?" the young girl asked, not sure about his name.

The captain smiled to her. "Exactly, miss. I'm surprised you remembered my name."

He sat next to Estelle.

"To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit, sir?" Eolie asked.

Captain Ludiart slightly jumped, as if he hadn't noticed Eolie was there before. The two of them were now staring at each other.

"Hum?" Estelle said, unable to understand what was happening. "Something is wrong?"

Sir Ludiart snapped out of his transe and quickly smiled again to her. "Oh, no, it's nothing... Then, you want to know why I'm here, Miss..."

"Eolie."

"… Eolie? Interesting... Well, I wanted to know if my guests were alright. I mean, some of my knights are sick right now..."

"Well, as you can see, the young boy there doesn't feel very well."

Sick people? Estelle didn't hesitated. She stood immediately and looked at Sir Ludiart right in the eyes. Estelle couldn't stand anymore waiting nervously for the others to come back. If she can be of some help for the campement... then she remembered her healing artes certainly won't work.

"I... would like to help you, but..."

Also, she couldn't leave Karol... and the kind Eolie too. Yuri is counting on her for that.

Sir Ludiart nodded, understanding the situation. "Yes, of course, you want to stay with your friends there. I'll take my leave then. But if you ever need something, please don't hesitate. My tent isn't far from here, you'll easily find it."

But as he salutated them, a voice coming from the outside reached their ears. "Sir! Sir Ludiart! Where are you?" Certainly one of the few knights who was still well. Sir Ludiart let out a little "excuse me" to Estelle and Eolie before rushing outside. But even if he was outside, Estelle could still hear their conversation.

"What is it?"

"Sir! Please excuse me for the sudden call, but look at that! A monster appeared just above the hold!"

_A monster?_

Estelle gave a quick look to Eolie. The masked woman nodded, apparently she had also heard the conversation.

Estelle closed her eyes and joined her hands, praying for her friends to be alright. She really wanted to get out of here and help them, but in the same time, she can't leave Karol and Eolie. _What should I do? _She can hear a voice screaming it in her head.

She could hear Sir Ludiart's voice once again. "Maybe that thing is the responsible..."

"What should we do, Sir? Should we send our remaining men?"

Sir Ludiart's remained silent. Probably thinking about the situation. "No, it won't be necessary. I'll go instead. You stay here and take the commandements."

"But, Sir..."

"This is an order!" Sir Ludiart's voice was now cold and firm. Estelle heard sounds of armor clinking.

"Yes, Sir!" Then, it was the complete silence.

Eolie got up, taking with her the bucket. "I'm going to get some more fresh water. Lady Estelle, please can you look after young Karol there?"

"Hum? Oh, no! Please give me that. I will go instead. You heard the knight, right? There is a monster outside."

"It's very kind of you, but I refuse. You should rest, see? Don't worry, I won't be long."

"But..."

Before she could anything, Eolie left silently the tent. Estelle got up and tried to catch with her... but once standing outside, right before the tent's entrance, she gasped, horrified by the scene happening above Deidon Hold. So the knight was right...

~.o.O.o.~

"Come closer, human."

Yuri raised his head, talking to the invisible thing. "Why don't _you_ come here? I have a few questions for you."

"Why so? I think my partner there gave you a really important information. It's more than enough for you."

"Then maybe you can tell me more about it? Who is the guy she was working for?"

The voice remained silent. Yuri didn't liked it... He came to a standstill, paying attention to every suspicious sound or event that could happened... The silence was complete, Yuri deducing that the others, as him, had stopped moving.

Then something incredible and unimaginable happened. All curls of smoke seemed to converge to the same point, slowly forming a black compact mass... the shape of a body was slowly taking form, as hairy and green giant hands with claws emerged from the smoke.

Rita was clearly disgusted. "Wha... what is that thing?"

"I wonder..." Yuri simply said.

Finally, a morbid green skinned hair appeared, with crimson protuding eyes, a big flat nose and... certainly the most outstanding... a wide opened mouth with yellowed teeth _and a very long red tongue. _

Everyone, frightened and at the same time surprised, was looking at the strange creature.

Yuri smirked. "I see... so you're the one who contamined all the places... Would you mind telling me why?"

The creature remained silent and smiled, as if looking at Yuri waiting nervously for an answer was an entertainement for him. Damn, those yokais are really something...

"I was supposed to create a demonic smoke to contaminate everyone, so it would be easier for my fellow partner to capture you... in the end, she was completely useless... never mind, in that case, the reward will be only for me!"

His head and hands disappeared and, in a split second, he was just in front of Yuri, his face only a few inches away from Yuri's face. The swordsman held his breath.

"So, you're the famous one..."

"Huh?"

"… how can your tiny body hold such tremendous energy? It's... Even more powerful than _him..._"

Yuri stepped backward, unable to understand what the creature was trying to say. Repede rushed and charged at the head, stopping it from getting closer to Yuri even more. The swordsman snapped out of his trance and nodded quickly at the dog as a thanks.

"Oh, what a faithful pet you have there! So be it. Let's avoid fight and make a deal then, you and me."

"A deal?" Yuri asked, still defiant.

"Yes. I will spare your friends's lifes and free this place from my cursed smoke."

The swordsman frowned. "And... what in exchange?"

"Surrender and let me take you to our boss."

Yuri was considering the deal. If he surrender right now, maybe yokais will stop crawling over the world and there won't be anymore innocent victims. Besides, it will be a chance for him to meet with the guy who's pulling the strings... asking him some questions and maybe giving him a piece of his mind...

But before he could reply an answer, Judith placed herself, spear in hand, between him and the hideous face. "Don't listen to him."

"Judy...?"

"This is only idle talk. He certainly won't respect the pact."

In a way, she might not be wrong. Yokais are also wicked monsters, Yuri knows that perfectly now... there's no guarantee the monster will respect its engagement. So what should he do?

"What is it, Krytian? You think we yokais don't respect our engagements?"

"I know from experience."

Yuri stared at her. She knows by experience? Does that mean... she already met with yokais before? In a similar case?

"Really? But that doesn't mean all yokais are like that, Krytian. So, can you let us alone? We have a deal to settle."

"I'm afraid I won't allow that. A deal that can put my friend's life in danger and kill him. Not really for me, you know."

Yuri smiled at Judith. Despite her cold and emotionless tone, he knew she was really worried for him. If she had already experienced that before, then there's no reason he couldn't trust her. He put a hand on Judith's shoulder and pulled her behind him.

"Thanks, Judy."

"But...!"

Ignoring his friend's protestations, he faced the creature with determined eyes. "Besides making a deal you'll certainly scrap, do you have something else to say?"

The creature smirked. "No deal, then? What a shame... Well, anyway, I need you right now, whatever the ways I use for it. I just wanted to give you the chance to not end this in blooshed..."

On that note, the creature opened its mouth and spitted out black smoke on the group.

"Don't breath that thing!" Judith warned... but it was too late. The smoke had spreaded over them so quickly, they didn't had the time to protect themselves. Yuri was covering his mouth and nose with his hands, but the sicking smoke had already got into his lungs, so he started to cough. Judith and Rita weren't spared either.

"Well-judged, Krytian, but too slow! I can create several types of smoke. The one I used on you can make you sick in no time... but don't worry, I'll soon put an end to your suffering... the next one will even burn your skin..."

"Hey, that's cheating... Red-Tongue!" Yuri managed to say between two coughs.

Red-Tongue didn't reacted to Yuri's comment and instead opened once again his mouth. This was really bad, and Yuri knew that no matter what happened, he just couldn't allow Red-Tongue to spit more smoke, or it will be the end for them...

A book throwned from behind landed in Red-Tongue's mouth. Surprised the creature shut his mouth and swallowed the book, making a grimace of disgust.

"Hey!" Rita screamed, facing Red-Tongue. "You weren't supposed to eat it! Now give it back-"

She didn't had the time to finish her sentence, as Red-Tongue's floating hand captured her.

"Thanks to you, little brat, your thing is stuck in my throat!" he uttered between two coughs.

Rita screamed in pain. Red-Tongue was coughing, spitting in the process curls of smoke, and was clenching her tiny body in his fist. If he continues like that, she will be crushed in no time...

This is really bad... Repede was now totally useless, his sense of smell being damaged by the nasty smoke. Rita is between Red-Tongue's hands. And himself and Judith, in their state, won't last long... No more time for trying to get more informations from Red-Tongue. This battle has to end quickly.

"Let her go..."

"Mmh? Sorry, little bug, I didn't heard you..."

Rita screamed more. That bastard...

Yuri felt once again a surnatural flow invading himself... like last time, in Zaphias. He closed his eyes, this unknown energy bustling in him, and raised his sword. When he opened his eyes, he noticed Red-Tongue had stopped coughing and was now looking at him, horrified and admiring at the same time. Red-Tongue started to laugh, an hysterical and powerful laugh resonating in all the hold.

"That power... Yeah, I feel it! I understand know... But why you? You don't seem to know how to use it properly..."

"Shut up..."

This time was a little different than before, as a blue magical circle appeared under his feet. The circle was filled with strange symbols he couldn't understand at all, with a five-pointed star in the middle. But that circle wasn't his priority for now. If he tries to use an Arte...

"Azure Edge!"

He sliced through the air, the blade creating a powerful blue wave that smashed into Red-Tongue's head. Blood gushed out from the sliced head, staining the ground with its dark red colour. But before the dead Red-Tongue fell on the ground, its entire body disintegrated into fine particles of blue light that soon disappeared in the air.

Once the place is plunged back in the dark, Red-Tongue had completely disappeared. Rita was safe and sound, as she was now complaining about her sore body. Judith was tired but she was alright too, as she standed and immediately went to help a still confused Repede and a shouting Rita.

Yuri felt relieved. He didn't get the informations he wanted, but a least the battle was over... besides, the smoke was disappearing too. The buildings reappeared in his field of vision, even the battlements surrounding the hold...

He noticed then a shadowy figure standing on the battlements, next to the exit to Halure. It was obviously looking at them. He didn't knew for how many time it was standing there, nor if it was a woman, a man... or even a yokai... or maybe... the guy Red-Tongue and the long-haired woman were talking about? He decided to go closer.

But his body wasn't responding to him anymore, and he suddenly felt dizzy. No, not now... His legs couldn't bear anymore his weight and he dropped his sword on the ground. He barely heard the metallic sound caused. As everything around him became blurry, he only had time to see the shadowy figure disappearing behind the battlements, before he passed out.

~.o.O.o.~

When Rita woke up, it was really early in the morning. The sun hadn't made yet his appearance, the sky still coloured with a mix of blue, red and orange shades. The ambiant air was now safe and breathable, the black-purpish smoke had now completely vanished.

Right after that bid red-tongue monster was killed, Rita should have felt relieved that the incident was over... but it left a bad taste in her mouth. How Yuri managed to do it? Azure Edge is one of the few Artes he has requiring magic, so without a bodhi blastia...

And yet, he did it.

Does it have a link with the circle who appeared right under his feet? Rita could bet it was a formula, unfortunately she didn't had the time to analyze it properly. She remembered she faced Yuri, trying to get some explanations... only to find him lying on the ground, unconscious and covered with bruises. She and Judith really had a hard time bringing him back to the campement, where she remembered Estelle's worried face welcoming them. The knights helped them to take Yuri to the tent where Karol was already resting in. Ludiart decided to give them a second tent, for the girls.

Rita really wanted to ask some questions to Yuri... but with him in this state, she had no choice but to come back next morning. After Estelle healed her, she decided to have some sleep.

She hastened to leave her sleeping bag. She tried not to make too much noise, as Judith was still sleeping and, without even taking the time to have a wash, she left the girls's tent.

The boys's tent was at the other side of the campement... Ludiart excused himself for not being able to give them a tent next to the first one, as the ones surrounding it were already filled with sick people... He said he just couldn't afford to move them somewhere else. Rita was the first to tell him it was no big deal, since her top priority was to have a place where she can sleep in peace.

But once she reached her destination, she nearly bumped into Estelle. Her friend was just leaving the tent with puffy eyes, meaning she had just woke up. Despite her tiredness, she smiled at the sight of her friend. "Oh, Rita, good morning!"

"...'morning... Wait, don't tell me you slept here?"

"Hum? Oh, that's right... I was looking over Yuri and... I think I slept here before I realized it..."

Rita sighed. "Speaking of that, is he awake?"

"Yuri? No, he's still asleep. He looks very tired, you know, that really worries me."

"Oh." Rita said, really disappointed. "Guess I have to wait then."

"You wanted something from him?"

"Yeah, but it's no big deal. It doesn't matter, I can wait."

… Actually it does matter, and no she can't wait anymore! Trying to calm her impatience, she sat on the ground next to the tent's entrance. Tons of questions were now filling her mind. She was sure Yuri had no bodhi blastia on him, so how? Can he convert aer into energy on his own, like Estelle? No, it can't be that... Phaeroh and the others would have mentionned it, during their adventures. If only she can have a look at the formula who appeared...

Speaking of that, she did remember there was a strange-looking star composing the circle. What does it means? And... is the mana have something to do with it?

Besides... Yuri collapsing after a battle was pretty unusual, and Estelle said he was really tired. Of course the battle was intensive, it was the first time they were dealing with a monster like that... but still... did he use his own life energy to do it?

And also Judith's "purification" spell she used on the female yokai... She didn't knew a spell like this was existing...

"Aaargh!" Rita screamed, stamping furiously her feet on the ground.

"What is it, Rita?"

Rita was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't noticed Estelle sitting next to her. The young mage sighed. "Oh no, it's nothing, it's just... that's really puzzling."

But even if it's nagging her, she didn't knew if she should tell Estelle about it. Knowing her, she'll just get more worried. After some silence, Estelle decided to change the subject of the conversation... or not really, after all.

"So it was really a yokai who was behind all of this..."

"Hum... actually, two." Rita rectified.

"Really?"

"Yep. And to think I was dragged into this mess!"

Rita explained to her that Judith witnessed Yuri and Repede getting in the hold, so together they decided to follow them... no, rectification, Judith alone decided to follow them, and Rita was forced to come too. They wandered in the hold for a while... the place was barely recognizable, the smoke covering all the buildings and even the roads. The only thing they could do was walking blindly, hoping they'll bump into Yuri and Repede soon enough...

But instead they met an injured yokai, a hari-whatever, who immediately attacked them with her hair before they could count to three.

"With her hair?" Estelle cried, surprised. "How is it possible?"

"Don't ask me. Now I know each Yokai is more weird than the other. And you still don't know about the second one we met..."

Rita then continued. Both Judith and her, along with the missing people Ludiart was talking about, were made prisonners in one of the hold's building. The yokai told them something about using them as baits to lure someone... for revenge. Once she left, they were saved by glowing petals who untied them.

"Glowing petals?"

"Yeah. Don't ask me about that."

They concluded the "someone" she was searching for was definitely Yuri, so they left in a hurry. Luck or simply coincidence, they managed to find Yuri and Repede, along with the hairy woman. Together they all defeated it, and this is precisely where the main culprit, that Red-Tongue thing, made its appearance.

"Red-Tongue... Oh, that! We saw it too!"

"Eh?"

"A monster with a body made of smoke and a long red tongue! It was just for a few seconds, but I saw it... And you managed to defeat it?"

"Hum... Actually..."

Should she tell her? Or not? Oh, well! She's her friend, after all!

"I don't really know what happened, but Yuri managed to use his Azure Edge on it..."

"Oh! He did it again?"

"Again?" Rita asked, without understanding.

"Yes... In Zaphias, when we were attacked... you don't remember?"

"I wasn't with you there... I was helping Judith and Ba'ul."

"It was when we were fighting their leader. Yuri... he used Azure Edge on them, but... it was different from the others times he used it when we still had the bodhi blastias. I would say... it was more powerful..."

Rita thought about it. Yes, this is exactly the same impression she had... after seeing Yuri fighting so many times, she had memorized his combat style and the way he was executing his artes...

But it was the first time she had seen an Azure Edge like that. It was... too strange.

"This is why you wanted to see him?"

Rita jumped slightly. "Hum? Oh... Yeah, it was because of that. Did he said something about it to you?"

"He said... that he either don't know what he did... so I didn't asked more..."

"Huh? He don't know either? What the... That doesn't sound logical..."

Estelle quickly looked at the tent's entrance. "For now, we should let him have some rest. When he'll get better, then... we can go and ask him."

"Yeah... for the moment, this is the only way we have..."

Suddenly her eyes sparkled. What if... it's related to the reason the yokais are after him? That could be it! Azure Edge was very efficient against Red-Tongue last night... maybe the yokais are afraid of that... No, maybe not, because if it was really the case, the yokais would have already killed him... as far as she could tell, they all said they wanted him alive... Hell no, that female yokai wanted to kill him!

Argh! It was so confusing!

"By the way Rita..." Estelle said, drawing back Rita's attention on her. "How is Judith?"

"Oh, her? She was still sleeping when I left..."

~.o.O.o.~

It took Yuri at least five minutes to open his eyes, and almost the same amount of time to clear his sight and let his senses slowly coming back to him. He was apparently lying on a bed... the ceiling above him was surprisingly transparent and was made of tissue... oh, that's right, he's in the tent.

He took several minutes to notice something was sitting next to him and staring at him.

Rita.

The young girl was holding a towel in her hand. What was she doing with it? She said something, but he could only heard muffled words... as if she was speaking her face buried in a pillow. He wanted to tell her he didn't understood a damn of what she was trying to tell him, but no words wanted to come out from his mouth. His entire body was numb... and why was it so hot there?

Rita facepalmed and apparently decided to give up. She placed the towel on his forehead, took the bucket and was ready to leave... but Yuri finally managed to pronounce a few words.

"Hey... wait..." His voice was still weak, but she clearly heard it as she stopped and turned to face him once again. She sighed and sat next to him.

"Wow, and here I thought I was talking to a zombie..."

He was regaining slowly his strenghts... but not enough for him to sit on the bed. His arms were simply refusing to obey him, so he gave up.

"Still feeling drowsy?"

"Yeah... kind of... what happened?"

"You managed to blow that Red-Tongue with an Azure Edge."

"I... huh?"

"You heard me. You used an Azure Edge. Mind to explain me how?"

Wow... this is what he calls being frank and go directly to the point.

"I see... that's why you're here..."

"Huh? Hum... not at all, I... I heard you caught a fever and... the others were busy..."

He caught a fever? Oh, so that's why he thought it was really hot there. He sighed and close his eyes, letting his memories coming back to him. Deidon Hold covered with a smoke... an hysteric woman who attacked him with her hair... and yeah, of course, Red-Tongue. Judy, Repede and Rita were also with him.

So... he did it again. He managed to use once again Azure Edge, which apparently drained the rest of his energy. That must be it.

"Yeah, I remember now. But sorry to disappoint you, I don't know how I did this. Really."

"But!" Rita put her hands on the edge of the mattress. "And that formula? What was it? Can you try to do it once again so I can analyze it?"

Yuri was clearly irritated now. He frowned and, despite his weak condition, pulled away Rita as she was practically bending over him. "Hey. Calm down now."

"Oh, hum... I'm sorry."

She came to her original position on her chair and was now looking at her laps, embarassed. "So... Estelle was right... you don't know either. But..."

"But? You have an idea?"

"Maybe, but I'm not sure. Frankly, I don't know the nature of your strange ability, but I think this is why yokais are after you."

Yuri blinked. He hadn't thought about that... he didn't replied, allowing her to continue.

"You seem to be able to create some kind of magical energy, allowing you to use Azure Edge."

"You mean, like Estelle?"

"I don't think so, Phaeroh would have told us about that or else. The formula you used... I can't clearly remember what it was but I can say it's a formula I had never seen before..."

Yuri sighed. This is getting more and more complicated.

"It must be a very important power... Either the yokais are afraid of that and want to kill you, or they're simply coveting it for whatever reasons. That's why I thought if I could analyze the formula, then..."

Yuri wasn't listening to her anymore, now lost in his thoughts. Rita had only emitted hypothesis, but her reasoning was logical, after all. If trying to understand that "formula" could be of any help for them, then so be it. He just have to found out how to do it again, and that won't be easy as it seems to be a pretty capricious power who just show up whenever it wants.

The situation was now more precise and clearer. As yokais are hunting him down maybe because of that strange ability he possesses... and a certain guy was pulling the strings behind the scene. This is all the informations he had for the moment.

Thinking he was feeling better now, Yuri tried to sat on the bed... but as he did, he felt incredibly dizzy once again. Objects around him started to mix all together until becoming an incomprehensible mass of mixed colours.

"Oh great... not again..."

He barely heard Rita's panicked voice next to him and sank into a deep sleep.

* * *

><p>WHAT? I'M STARTING WITH PHYSICAL SCIENCE? NO WAY!<p>

Ah... nevermind. If I get bored, I'll just think about should I write for the next chapter...


	9. I will get them

*hides under her desk*

Yes, I'm still alive! I'm terribly sorry! Let me explain.

First, exams were nagging me week after week...

Secondly, A GREAT LACK OF INSPIRATION. Like when you open your file, write some words and... ended up desesperated and finally closed the file. Yeah, this is what happened for me for almost two months. I was planning to write this chapter entirely from Raven's point view, I think it was the reason for my random inspiration hole, so I finally decided to shorten that part.

BUT! I have something more for you guys! Yep, another story (I'm lauching into the world of SI fanfictions...) I'm planning to release once this one will be over. Chapter one is almost finished ;)

It was certainly the most difficult chapter to write for me since I released the story... Hope you'll enjoy it!

**Elizabeth the Bathog: **Don't worry, I'm still alive! University didn't killed me yet. Don't worry, I will finish this story, because I love it too much!

**Chou: **Hey, un autre compatriote! Désolée pour la réponse trèèèèèès tardive (Ahem... deux mois...); en gros enchaînement de DS et exams oraux, le fun quoi... et surtout un GROOOS manque d'inspiration qui fait qu'à chaque fois je passais des heures à écrire deux-trois mots puis je terminais en m'arrachant presque les cheveux. Je pense que ça été le chapitre le plus difficile à écrire... En tout cas merci, contente de voir que mon histoire plaît à d'autre français!

* * *

><p><strong>09. I will get them<strong>

It was the nightfall and... it was still so hot. Conditions were gathered for a good nap. Because of the ambient heat, Raven had finally swapped his captain armor for his usual light purple coat, his magenta shirt and dark trousers.

It was now... two? No, three days? Zaphias was still marked by the attack. As Raven and his faithful men, Leblanc, Adecor and Boccos, were patrolling along the streets and helping people on their way, the old man could only see the extent of the damages caused by the winged monsters. Cracks on the ground, entire buildings destroyed... Raven whistled.

"Hey, those guys were really somethin'..."

Back in Halure, as he was organizing the people's evacuation and commanding the knights already on the premises, a messenger from the capital informed him that Commandant Scifo had noticed strange activities within the Knight organization itself. In order to not draw too much attention on this case, Raven was asked to come back to Zaphias quickly and meet Flynn in private.

Actually, he himself had already noted something wrong in the Knighthood. Reports of knights disappearing with no traces, knights changing units without their captain's permission... Even men of his own unit had mysteriously vanished. He had even planned to go back to the capital to ask Flynn what the hell that kid wad doing...

Once they had arrived, he had immediately left the kids, pretexting he had something to take care of... which was true, of course. Knowing the kids had wanted to see Flynn first, he had rushed to the castle, trying to get there first. He had hid himself in the corridor while the kids and Flynn were talking in the Commandant's office and, when they finally left (Flynn too, Raven then supposed he had decided to accompany them to the castle's entrance), only Flynn had noticed him. Both of them had glanced at each other and Flynn had nodded, Raven suggesting he knew why the old man was there.

A few minutes later, Flynn had came back. Raven was waiting next to the office's door and both of them had salutated each other, before Flynn had politely invited him into his office for more privacy. When he had entered, Raven couldn't have help but think the room hasn't changed drastically. The walls, the tapestries, the floor... and even the furnishing's position. While Raven was glancing at the room, a smirk on his lips, Flynn had took place behind his desk and folded his hands under his chin.

"So, I suppose you know why I asked you here."

Raven had looked at Flynn. And to think this young kid was just a simple captain as him... Now here he is, in his Commandant uniform, sitting behind this imposing desk, and waiting for his subordinate to make his report! At this instant, Raven smiled at the young Commandant, like a father proud of his son. With that kid, a new era for the knights had started.

"Yep, I received your message while I was in Halure helpin' the kids. So, any informations 'bout that mess? Dare to explain me what's happenin'?"

"I wish I could understand that myself..."

"Ya mean you have nothin' ta do with that?"

Flynn had stared at Raven, a serious expression on his face. "We are right in the middle of a crisis, so playing pranks like that isn't a good idea. And even if it was the case, I wouldn't have call for you, right?"

Raven had sighed when he had heard that. He had a point. Flynn isn't the type to do things behind the back of the others... and given the situation they are in actually...

"So? Whaddaya suggest?"

"I think you already know. You're really good in spying and getting informations, right?"

Raven scratched the back of his head, smiling. "Well, ya can say that. Ya want me ta have a little investigation, right?"

"If it's not asking too much to you, yes."

Raven had sighed once again. That young commandant was counting too much on him! He already had to clear the mess between the guilds and the empire – even after all those months, the situation didn't really got better between the two sides – and now this... But, after all, this is really a situation even Raven had difficulties to understand. Actually, it was the first time the knighthood faced such a situation. Well, there have been cases of corruption, shady alliance and all...

Raven had the impression that if it keeps on continuing like that, something bigger will come... and it will be too late to oppose it. That's why he had decided to accept the young commandant's order.

"I'll see what I can do."

Flynn's eyes had sparkled. Raven knew that, by accepting the commandant's request, he has just taken a great weight off his shoulders. Of course, Flynn would never admit it, but Raven could read it in his eyes. Flynn was looking relieved.

"Thank you! For the moment, you're the only one I can count on for that."

"Not even your little second in command?" He crossed his arms and looked up, ruminating. "I

think her name was..."

"Oh, you mean Sodia? No... it's weird for me to say that, but I need her to my sides. And I really don't want to make her do this... if she gets in trouble after that..."

"Ooh? You're caring fer what might happen' to her? And you're throwing this poor old man inta the lion's den?" Raven had said, laughing. Flynn had then blushed.

"No... no! I mean... you're more experienced and... and..."

Raven had ruffled the young blonde's hair. Of course he knew he didn't meant that. It was just a joke.

"Hey, don't worry, just joking. That's a job for this old man!"

He had stepped backwards and standed to attention, suddenly serious. "At your command, Sir! I won't deceive you!". Behind his desk, Flynn had nodded and dismissed him. But before Raven opens the door and leaves, Flynn had got up.

"Before you leave, Captain Schwann..."

"Ra-ven," the old man had said, insisting on each syllable.

"Oh, right... _Raven._"

Raven had nearly laughed. The way Flynn had said Raven was really funny, like a child pronoucing for the first time this word.

"This is not funny!" Flynn had poutted, this time causing Raven to burst out laughing. "No, seriously. I have one more request for you, and it will be the last, I promise. Can you keep an eye on Yuri?"

Raven had became again serious all of a sudden. Babysitting? He know Yuri well enough, even if that kid tends to be a trouble magnet, he had always managed to get out of it himself. Flynn might know that as well, so why was he doubting of his own friend now?

"Why that?"

"I... I can't tell for now, I'm not sure as well, but... please."

Raven raised one his eyebrows. This is getting shady... but the little one seemed to be pretty serious about it, so this wasn't something he could overlook, he had thought. He had gave a last comforting smile to the young commandant, telling him he'll take care of the situation, and had let out a little "see ya!" before leaving furtively the office.

And now here he is, patrolling in the Lower Quarter and thinking about his next course of actions. For the moment, little much is known about the guys behind all of this. One thing Raven was pretty much sure of, they must belong to the Knights. To start, he had asked his own men, but none of them seemed to understand what was happening either.

First, he thought about picking up the trail of the knights who had mysteriously disappeared. He will of course start with his own men. In the same time, he planned to spy on others units, so he can take in note every changes that might happen.

Raven took a deep breath, satisfied. For the moment, he will stick with that plan. No need to tell the Union about it, as it will only worsen the relationships between the guilds and the Knights. He could already imagine the Union's reaction about it.

Raven lost the trail of his thoughts, as he smelled the sweet aroma of wine and food coming from his right side. He was now passing next to the bar. He tapped his rumbling stomach and faced his subordinates.

"Alright, guys! I think that's all fer today. Good job. Ya're free until tomorrow mornin'."

Leblanc, Adeccor and Boccos immediately stood to attention. Leblanc spoke for everybody.

"Thank you, sir! In that case, we will be waiting for you at the castle."

Raven waved his hand. "Nah, don't worry fer me! You guys go and relax."

"Yes, sir!"

The three men salutated. As Raven watched them leaving the place, he couldn't help but smile. Leblanc, Adeccos, Boccos... even though they're a little dumb and naive, they can truly be called Knights, applying the laws wherever they think fit to do it or desobeying the laws if it can help and protect the people.

True knights...

The bar was full. Well, it was expected, at that time of the night. Raven choose for himself a single table in the corner of the room and, as soon as he put his butt on the chair, a nice maidservant came to his table with a pen and a notepad. Short black hair, green eyes, short skin-tight dress and walking while swaying slightly her hips. Hey, that girl exactly know how to seduce that old man!

Raven commanded for himself a hot meal and, of course, wine. As expected, the young girl soon succumbed to his charms and was now sitting next to him, leaning against him.

People progressively left the bar. Only Raven, the girl (he was too drunk to actually remember her name) and a few guys were left. The nice young maid was serving him a fifth glass of wine, when the conversation of the guys sitting at the bar reached his ears.

"Ah men, you know what? Last week, at least five men of my unit disappeared!"

Instinctively, Raven turned his head and recognized the outfits the guys were wearing. Two captains, no doubt about it. The woman started to make advances to him, but he ignored her, now concentrated on the conversation. Oh, and to say he thought it will be difficult for him to gather some informations!

"Oh, you – _hic! - _too?"

Besides, they were talking loudly. Easy to spy.

"Yeah! It was... what, two days ago maybe? One morning when I gathered my troops, I found out that five of my best warriors were missing!"

"And – _hic! - _me, it was nearly half of my troops, can you – _hic! - _imagine?"

"I'm sure it's that four-eyes!"

"Four – _hic! - _eyes?"

"Yeah, I'm sure you know him! That effeminate guy... Ludiart!"

_Ludiart?_

Raven had already heard that name before. Captain Georges Ludiart... Not much is known about him, because he's just an ordinary captain. He never caused troubles to others, nor he never accomplished something big or honorific. Well, that's what everybody says, since Raven never met him.

"Oh! Now that you say – _hic! - _it, that Ludiart came to see me two weeks ago..."

"Really? And?"

"He asked me to – _hic! - _to transfer my best Knights into his own unit. Of course I refused!"

"And? What happened?"

"At first, nothing." The guy sipped his bear. "Ya know, he just said it doesn't matter and left. Then, I forgot about him."

"Oh, so it was the same for you! That guy also came and asked me the same thing. I refused, even if he said this lost would be largely compensed... You know, it was Commandant Flynn who choose to transfer skilled warriors into my unit! I didn't want to betray his trust! "

Raven was trying to analyze the situation. If those men were right, Captain Ludiart visited them and made a deal, to which they refused; and a few days later, bad surprise...

But, Ludiart might not be the only one. Maybe there are other complices... No one ever met with Raven before and no one proposed him a deal. Everything happened all of a sudden. That's why it's too early to conclude something. Ludiart might be the real mastermind behind all of it... or simply a cog in a machine.

The guys changed the subject of their conversation, meaning they have nothing more to tell about it. But for Raven, it was enough; maybe a little visit to this Ludiart clown will settle things or allow him to further his investigation.

"Hey, Raven? Are you listening to me, dear?"

Oh! That's right. He completely forgot about the young maid sitting next to him. Of course he wanted to spend some more time with her, but...

"Sorry, cutie..." He said while getting up, "but I have urgent matters now... maybe next time?"

Saying that, he put some money on the table and added an extra tip for the young girl. She took the money, but was still disappointed, and tried a last time to persuade him to stay with her. "You said you wanted to stay with me, and now you're leaving? How mean of you."

What a very attractive proposition! There is so much to do right now, so Raven was determined to not be tempted. But, at least, he kissed the girl on her cheek, making her blushing slightly and whispered in her ear:

"Ya know, your pretty face will be stuck in my head forever. Be sure I'll come back only fer ya', cutie."

He winked to her, and this time she was really blushing and smiling. Hope this will calm her down for a while...

~.o.O.o.~

When Yuri woke up, he had never felt so worst in his life. A bad headache coupled with vertigos and sickness, how very uncomfortable... He managed to sat on the bed. It was almost dark in the tent: the only source of light were a few candles on the night table. Damn, for how many times did he sleep?

"Oh, you're awake?"

Eolie's gentle voice startled him. She was crossing the exiguous tent, holding a bucket of water and a towel.

"You shouldn't move too much." she continued, sitting next to him. "I'm afraid the poison isn't completely eliminated..."

Yuri stared at her. "Poison?"

She tilted her head. "Yes. You have been slightly poisoned by the miasma out there. But nothing serious, fortunately, thanks to Miss Estelle."

Oh, right. That could explain why he was feeling so bad.

"I hope she didn't forced herself too much..."

"You mean Miss Estelle?"

Yuri tried to get up, but once he was on his feet, his legs went wobbly. He didn't even noticed Eolie had jumped up and caught him before he collapses on the ground. When he realized it, Eolie was already helping him to go back to bed.

"Woah... thanks..."

"I told you to stay still, didn't I? Miss Estelle will be mad at you if she had saw this."

Yuri smiled. Yeah, he could easily imagine the situation.

"Okay, okay, you got me. By the way, how's the situation out there?"

Eolie sat down again. "Well... everything didn't turned as right as we wanted..."

Even though he couldn't see what kind of expression her face had, judging by the tone of her voice he knew something was wrong.

"Do you really want to know?" she asked. "Maybe I should wait until you got better..."

If she's saying that, it might be really serious. But Yuri is used to that anyway.

"No. Go ahead."

Nevertheless, Eolie was still hesitating. Yuri frowned and looked at her with determined eyes, urging her to continue.

"Well then, if you insist... Thanks to you – and I won't deny it – the hold has been freed from the cursed smoke and everything went back to normal. Unfortunately, the captain and his men made a macabre discovering..."

_Macabre... _apparently, not everyone had escaped alive from that mess.

"People were locked in the warehouse," Eolie continued, "and some of them have been rescued. As for the others... it was already too late."

Yuri closed his eyes. The sickness and the vertigos had completely gone, now replaced by a feeling of guilt and anger. Innocent people were killed... why do they have to involve innocent people who had nothing to do with that?

This has gone too far. But what could he do when his opponents are so reluctant to negociation?

For a moment, he even thought about surrending to them and eventually letting them do as they please with him. And even if they don't want to tell him why, then it doesn't matter... as long as they promise to not implicate innocent people like they did. But was it really a good solution? Even if he... well, died, then there's no guarantee they'll keep their promise...

"Are you feeling guilty?"

"Huh?"

Yuri opened his eyes. Eolie was slightly bending over him.

"You seem troubled," she continued, "after all, maybe I shouldn't have told you."

"No, that's not it... Don't worry about it."

"I should be the one saying that to you!" she said, laughing a bit. "Are you feeling guilty because you thought you could have saved those people?"

The swordsman was a bit startled by her words, but regained quickly his impassive attitude. She's quite perspicace... Until now, Flynn was the only one to know how to read in him...

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, after what I told you, you made quite a face... it wasn't so hard to know how you were feeling."

"Yeah, maybe... Knowing other's feelings without letting them know about yours, right?"

"Hum? What do you mean?"

Yuri didn't replied immediately and instead examined minutiously her mask. From afar, it was looking like a mask with crude red forms without any signification; but closely, Yuri had to admit it was kind of a refined piece of art. Judging by the drawings, it was representing an animal, but the swordsman couldn't recognize what animal was it. The mouth, the nose and the muzzle were carved into the white mask and completed with bright-red paintings. The eyes were very well detailed: black outlines, long eye-lashes and brown iris.

"You always wear that mask all the day?" Yuri asked, now curious.

"Oh, that?" she was a bit surprised. Apparently she wasn't expecting that question. "Hum... yes."

"Even at night?"

"Yes."

"Dare to explain to me why?"

This time she didn't answered. Instead she soaked the towel into the water and put it on Yuri's forehead. The coldness startled him.

"You should get some rest." she said, as if Yuri never asked her that question. "Mister Karol said we will leave once you will get better."

"Hey... don't try to change the subject there. But I can understand if you don't want to talk about it..."

She was hiding something, that was clear. She was hesitating, her hand still holding the towel on his forehead. After a few seconds, she finally removed her hand and standed up.

"Well then, if you insist... just promise me you won't do anything reckless from now. Your friends still need you, you know. Then, one day, I will tell you."

Yuri opened widely his eyes and stared at her. Why was she saying that? It was almost as if she knew what he was planning to do...

"You shouldn't feel guilty about those people. It's absolutely not your fault. The knights told us that, judging by the state of their bodies, they died a long time ago."

With her hand, she opened the tent's entrance.

"Now, have some rest." She left the place in a cloth rustle, leaving a suspicious and rather baffled Yuri. Now sitting on the bed, he was staring at the entrance from where the woman left.

_Eolie... Who is she?_

~.o.O.o.~

The next morning was wet and rainy. Almost as if the rain had come to wash everything and help the place get rid of its last impurities of the incident. Yuri was the first to wake up; apparently everyone had decided to take up residence in the tent. Estelle, Rita, Judith, Repede, Karol... everyone has seemed so tired. He couldn't help but feels rather uneasy when he passed next to Eolie, who was sitting on a chair with her head lowered, sleeping... or maybe pretending to be asleep, who knows what this mask can hide?

Her words from last day were still sounding strange to him. In a way, she managed to discover what he was thinking... or maybe he was just getting too paranoiac?

Outside, the campement was bustling. There, a few knights were packing weapons, food and provisions; others were dismantling tents.

So the brigade was planning to leave the place... Next to the biggest tent of the campement, a long brown-haired man was giving instructions to another knight... probably his second-in-command.

Captain Ludiart, was it?

While talking, Ludiart noticed Yuri standing under the rain. The second-in-command then nodded and left, and Yuri was surprised to see Ludiart raise his head and looking at him directly. The captain smiled and came closer to him.

"Yuri Lowell, right? The savior of Deidon Hold! Thanks to you, we could have saved some of our men. Unfortunately, some citizens weren't spared..."

Yuri didn't answered. Ludiart was keeping on smiling and placed a finger on his chin. Smiling while talking about the death of innocent people? It was almost as it was nothing for him.

"Oh yes, now I remember... you gave us a hard time a few months ago, you know that?"

"What, you mean you too had followed me like faithful dogs?"

"That's..." Ludiart had an embarassed smile, "that's a pretty rudeless way to say it, but... it's the idea."

He cleared his throat and looked at Yuri with a... perverse look. Yuri frowned. What's with this man?

"Hum... there are still charges against you, right?"

_Huh... this wasn't good... _Yuri thought. He had his sword with him, in the case the situation will go out of control...

"No need to worry. This is all past right now." But he had said that with a rather suspicious and haughty voice... showing clearly his intentions, even if he didn't expressly said it.

Goddamn, Yuri doesn't need that right now! The tension between them was getting higher and higher, Ludiart still calm with his ridiculous smile, Yuri about to draw his sword...

"Is there any problems there?"

The two men startled, the gently voice breaking immediately the tension. Eolie was there, standing behind Yuri. Since how...?

Ludiart stepped back, an expression of disgust on his face. Still, he tried to stay polite while talking to her.

"Oh... nothing serious. Miss...?"

"Eolie", the interested one said.

"Eolie? Oh... right... don't worry, we were just - he gave Yuri an odd look – talking."

"Is that so? Then sorry if I disturbed you. I have just came here to tell Yuri his friends were awake and are waiting for him."

Ludiart straightened and rearranged his glasses on his nose. It was a rather strange scene to see for Yuri; it was almost as if Ludiart was ready to do something, but Eolie came in time to prevent him to do so, the whole well-camoufled behind an apparently polite conversation.

"Oh... then..." Ludiart stammered. "Then don't let them wait any longer. If you ever need something, you can find me here, in this tent. Have a good day!"

Yuri and Eolie both looked at him as he rushed into his tent.

"What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know," Eolie claimed as she shrugged, "but he had looked so scared... what did I do?"

"Well... a masked woman concealed from head to toe... that's not somethin' you see everyday..."

"Really? I guess you are right..."

"You really can't remove that?"

"Well... it will be a problem if I do that..."

Yuri sighed. He shouldn't try to push it a bit. She was kind enough to pay all the group's expenses for the travel, so he couldn't even imagine what will happen if he manages to make her angry... But still...

"Yuri!"

And here it is, Estelle's typical call when she's worried about someone.

"Hey there, here is our little princess." He grinned. She stood right before him, examining him with meticulous care. Ah, that Estelle, she's never changing.

"I was so worried! You slept all the day, you know! You were looking so pale..."

"Yeah, I'm sorry. Huh, I've been making you worry about me so many times lately..."

"No, it's not your fault! It's those monsters! And... Judith told me that actually it was a youkai who was responsible for all of this, so... did you found out why they are after you?"

Yuri hesitated for a while. What should he say to her?

"Nah, nothing," he finally said, "they refused to say something... had to kill them before they could do anymore damages."

"Oh, I see..."

The others weren't far away. Everyone was there: Karol, Judy, Repede and Rita. As he patted Repede and excused himself from making everyone worry about him, he noticed Rita was staring at him with narrowed eyes and arms crossed. Still searching an explanation for what happened last day, surely...

"Looks like Yuri is okay!" Karol claimed. "The knights are leaving. Maybe we should take our leave..."

"But!" Estelle interfered, "Maybe Yuri wants to rest more..."

Yuri waved his hand. "Nah, it's okay. Look, I'm all back to normal! Time for me to get back to the scene..."

"It wasn't a common poison," Judith said, "are you sure?"

The swordsman grinned. Now wasn't the time to babble about his health condition, there was more important matters, like chasing down those youkais and prevent them from doing any further harms to the people. A difficult task since Yuri doesn't know where to start...

After some discussion, it was finally decided the group will leave the hold and try to avoid cities as much as possible – everyone agreed to say Yuri was a Youkai magnet – and reach Dahngrest as soon as possible, before leaving for Yumanju.

Easy to say, but...

As Yuri was lost in his thoughts, he didn't know how the conversation ended up with the victims of the last day's incident. Judy quietly explained him – so Rita and Karol won't listen to her - that while he was inconscious, she, Estelle and Eolie helped the knights bury the bodies not far away from the Quoi Woods. There wasn't many dead people, but it was still difficult especially for Estelle. She had silently cried during all the process but still had handled it marvelously.

Yuri clenched his fists. He should have been there instead of her, rather than lying on this bed.

Those bastard had gone too far. Next time, he'll catch one and make him say all the truth. Even if the monster refuse, he will wait. Minutes, hours, even days! Once he'll snatch the truth from it, he will kill it and then think of a plan of action.

For the moment, it was the best solution he had in mind.

* * *

><p>I don't know if the tenses I used for the flashback in Raven's part are correct. We just studied present and past tenses at the university so I used them... don't hesitate to correct me!<p> 


	10. Announcement

**ANNOUNCEMENT**

First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE... in late :D

Okay, now you have the right to throw tomatoes and eggs at me. I think I deserve it ;)

Inspiration came back to me, but frankly I didn't had time to write something. I even lost a bit of motivation, and then remembered all the readers who are waiting for me... so I got back to work! I had three weeks of holidays for Christmas and the New Year, but preparations for the party took us a lot of time and besides I had to work for my january exams. And... once the exams were over, we had to go back to university right after that (we just had a four days break, so I had the time to write a few lines). So here is a new semester beginning for me with new teachers, new subjects and... works in laboratory! Yeah!

So don't worry, I certainly won't give up on this story, and chapter 10 WILL BE RELEASED as planned, I promise! I just can't say when, but you should re-read the entire story so you won't get lost :) I've also started another story on Vesperia, but I think I'll first finish this one before...

So, see you soon, and a big thanks to those who are keeping on supporting me!

Your little Peachounette


	11. Announcement 31072013

**ANNOUNCEMENT**

_Oh gosh, a ghost had come back from the depths of Hell!_

No, seriously, you have all the rights to be angry after me. I really deserve it after all as I certainly deceived all of the readers hoping to see me back on the scene. I wanted to update on the situation later when I will release my new project, but I finally decided to do it now. I guess ElizabethBathog's review woke me up and I thought I just couldn't let things like that.

So many things have happened, with all my studies, exams, and above all our internet issues at home (internet was interrupted several times a day...), my activities... I had so many things to do, I couldn't go back on the website and update. I even forgot my own password, see? And I also almost forgot how to update the story. What an idiot I am.

It's safe to say I certainly won't finish this story. I know, that's pretty lame of me, but I lost all inspiration for this one, and the chapters ended up in the depths of my hard drive. However, I'm working on another project, perhaps bigger and more important than the previous one. I've already written 12 chapters, but I'm planning on releasing it once it's fully finished. I think it's better, so I won't make the same mistake as before, and it will allow me to have a global view of my work so I can then work on details and bring some corrections if needed. I don't know how much time it will take me, one month, several months or maybe one year, I can't tell it, but I'm working hard on this one and I will need to analyze every bits and details from the walkthrough videos of the game on the net... since it's a self-insert! Yes, sounds like I caught the virus, but I like working on personal stories.

Also, I'm grateful to all the people who stayed behind me. I was surprised to see some people still put my story in their favorites, or even put me in their follow list! I hope I won't deceive them and that my new story will please all of you. I've improved my English thanks to our lessons at the university, and they also gave us a software to complete our training that really helped me.

Anyway, stay tuned, and be prepared to see the wandering ghost Peachounette coming back with something completely new!

Okay, now that I said that, I'm ready to receive tomatoes and eggs!


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